Cat 6 Cable 1000ft

Potential Liability for Contractors Installing or Manufacturers Marketing
Falsely Labeled Copper Clad Aluminum Cable
The Communications Cable and Connectivity Association (“CCCA”) has discovered that
certain four pair unshielded twisted pair communications cables made with copper clad
aluminum conductors (“4 pr. UTP copper clad aluminum cable”) are being improperly labeled
and marketed.1 These cables are being sold as “category” cable and fire safety-rated but, by
definition, do not meet the codes and standards required for those labels. As a result, contractors
who install or manufacturers that improperly label and sell 4 pr. UTP copper clad aluminum
cable, in certain instances, may be exposed to liability. A background and overview of some of
those potential liabilities are set forth below.2
Background
Both safety and electrical transmission performance standards have been developed for
communications cables. Those standards dictate, among other things, how those cables are to be
constructed, labeled, and marketed.
In order for communications cable to be sold as fire safety-rated and be labeled
communications plenum cable (“CMP”), communications riser cable (“CMR”), or
communications general purpose (“CM”), it must comply with the National Electrical Code
(“NEC”) and be listed by a recognized independent testing laboratory. The National Fire
Protection Association (“NFPA”) develops the communications cable fire safety standards
contained in the NEC, which has been adopted by and codified as mandatory by many local and
state jurisdictions in the U.S.3
The NEC mandates that “[c]onductors in communications cables, other than in a coaxial
cable, shall be copper.”4 Authorized independent testing agency, UL, similarly requires that
conductors in communications cable “be solid or stranded, annealed, bare or metal-coated
copper.”5 Cable with a copper clad aluminum conductor by definition does not meet the NEC
standard, cannot be listed, and does not qualify as CMP, CMR, or CM fire safety-rated cable.
To be designated as “category” cable, communications cable must meet the
Telecommunications Industry Association (“TIA”) electrical performance standards. TIA