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Because in the 1980s, Japanese companies such as Korg, Roland and Yamaha started to seize the market for music synthesizers, regulators in Europe demanded that those firms start meeting EU regulations for electrical safety. To avoid the high cost of electrical-safety testing and certification by independent testing labs (a requirement in most of the world), these firms started making gear that ran from AC adapters only. The change from analog circuitry to microprocessors at the same time helped to facilitate this, by reducing power consumption and simplifying power supply design.
The United States has no direct federal regulation of electrical safety, but existing laws (and court cases dealing with liability) tend to use [http://ul.com/global/eng/pages/ Underwriters Labs] standards for electrical safety of electronic gear. However, UL standards are quite different from EU standards, making them incompatible in test-lab certification. Getting a product UL certified (
It seems that UL is attempting to "harmonize" its safety standards with the EU standards, under [http://www.ul.com/global/eng/pages/offerings/industries/hightech/consumerelectronics/pag/ UL 6500]. So that, it is alleged, both standards can be tested for
One side-effect of all this: the number of certified testing labs has exploded in the last 20 years. Before, there were very few labs, because products tended to be simple and regulations were scarce. Only medical or other safety-critical gear was tested routinely. But the commonplace use of microprocessors, increasing legal controls, import/export regulations, and differences of all the regulations between countries have contributed to a climate of "test everything just in case". So the test labs are making lots of money. And you, the consumer, are paying for it.
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