What a CE mark actually promises
We get offered power banks all the time. The email is nearly always the same. A good price, a decent capacity, a photo of a slim aluminium case, and a line about certification with a small CE mark next to it. We turn most of them down.
It's worth explaining why, because it isn't obvious, and almost nobody in this trade will tell you.
What a CE mark means on a power bank
For most consumer electronics, a CE mark isn't a test result. It's a declaration. The manufacturer checks its own product against the relevant European directives, signs a Declaration of Conformity, and puts the mark on itself. Some higher-risk categories do need an independent body involved. For the ordinary run of chargers and battery packs, nobody outside the factory has to have looked at it. So the mark tells you the manufacturer says it conforms. It doesn't tell you anyone checked.
A UL listing or a TÜV certificate is a different kind of mark. An independent laboratory has had the product in its hands, tested it against a published standard, and keeps auditing the factory that makes it. That's a different promise, which is why the two cost different amounts to get.
None of this makes a CE mark worthless. It just makes it a claim rather than a check. And that matters more on a lithium cell than on a notebook. A battery pack is the one gift that can fail in a way that hurts the person holding it, and it tends to be ordered in the hundreds and handed to a company's own staff. If one goes wrong, the name on the case is the client's.
Three questions to ask a power bank supplier
So what do you ask? Three things, and none of them needs any technical knowledge.
Who made the cells? A decent pack uses cells from a named manufacturer, and a supplier who knows their product will tell you which. If the answer is vague, you have your answer.
Can I see the certificate rather than the logo? A UL or TÜV certificate carries a number, and you can look that number up on the certifying body's own database. A logo on a product page can't be checked.
What happens if a unit fails in month four? Not whether it will. What happens. The answer tells you whether the supplier expects to still be talking to you in month four.
We do carry power banks. We carry the ones that get through those three questions, and we say no to the rest, which is usually most of what we're shown. It costs us some orders. It's also the part of this job we'd be least willing to give up. An unsafe gift isn't a cheap gift. It's a liability with your logo on it.