Standard · Safety & Security
AS5553
The SAE standard for avoiding, detecting, mitigating and disposing of counterfeit electrical, electronic and electromechanical parts, applied by equipment makers that buy components.
- Type
- Standard
- Domain
- Safety & Security, Supply chain integrity
Overview
AS5553 is the SAE International standard that sets requirements for avoiding, detecting, mitigating and disposing of counterfeit electrical, electronic and electromechanical (EEE) parts, written for organisations that buy parts and build them into equipment. It is aimed at equipment makers, contract manufacturers, repair organisations and resellers, and its requirements are meant to flow down to every buyer in the supply chain. The current revision is AS5553E, published in November 2025; the first edition appeared in 2009.
How it works
The standard asks an organisation to run a counterfeit parts control plan inside its existing quality management system, such as AS9100 or ISO 9001, rather than as a separate system. The core of the plan is avoidance: buying from the original manufacturer or its authorised distributors wherever possible, and treating purchases from brokers and other unauthorised sources as higher risk that needs justification and extra checks.
When parts come from riskier sources, the plan applies detection steps scaled to the criticality of the application, from inspection of markings and packaging to more intrusive tests. Counterfeits are often genuine parts that have been sanded and re-marked, blacktopped, salvaged from scrap boards or taken from manufacturing rejects, so tests look for those signs. Suspect parts must be quarantined and reported to the customer and to information exchanges such as GIDEP.
The plan also covers training, traceability records, flow-down of requirements to suppliers, and managing obsolescence so that late buys from the open market are not forced. AS5553 is risk based and does not prescribe a single test regime, and it explicitly does not make a legal finding of fraud.
Examples
- A defence electronics maker buying only from franchised distributors and documenting a risk assessment before any broker purchase.
- Quarantining a reel of microcontrollers whose markings and date codes do not match the manufacturer's records, and reporting it to GIDEP.
- Flowing AS5553 requirements down to a contract assembler that buys parts on the maker's behalf.
- Making an end-of-life last-time buy from the original manufacturer to avoid later open-market purchases.
Why it matters
Component engineers, supplier quality teams, counterfeit avoidance analysts and buyers at equipment makers use AS5553 to show customers, especially in defence and aerospace, that counterfeit risk is under control. US defence rules require contractors to operate a counterfeit part detection and avoidance system that draws on industry standards, so a weak plan can cost contracts. Chip makers and their authorised distributors are affected because the standard steers buyers towards them and relies on their traceability.
In the chip lifecycle, AS5553 applies after production, during distribution and the customer's purchasing, and becomes most important near end of life, when parts are scarce and buyers are tempted to use the open market.
It matters most to: Component Engineer, Counterfeit Avoidance Analyst, Counterfeit Detection and Quality Engineer, EEE Parts Engineer (Space and Defence), Supplier Quality Engineer, Electronics
Common confusions
- Not the same as AS6081
- AS6081 is the companion SAE standard for independent distributors, setting how they source, screen, control and report suspect parts. AS5553 is written for the organisations that buy parts and integrate them into products.
- Not the same as a product qualification standard
- Qualification standards such as AEC-Q100 prove that a genuine part design is reliable. AS5553 is about making sure the parts received are genuine in the first place.
Related standards
- SAE AS5553 (counterfeit EEE parts: avoidance, detection, mitigation and disposition)
Sources
- AS5553E: Counterfeit Electrical, Electronic, and Electromechanical (EEE) Parts; Avoidance, Detection, Mitigation, and Disposition (opens in a new tab), SAE International (SAE Mobilus), 2026-10-22
- DFARS 252.246-7007: Contractor Counterfeit Electronic Part Detection and Avoidance System (opens in a new tab), Acquisition.gov (US General Services Administration), 2026-10-22
- Counterfeit electronic component (Wikipedia) (opens in a new tab), Wikimedia Foundation, 2026-10-22
Related terms
Part of the Safety & Security glossary, with every term in the topic and the lifecycles, tools and standards that use them.
Where it appears on the Hub
Used on 7 pages of the Hub. In each group, the pages that mention it most come first.
Suggest an improvement
Suggest an improvement to this entry
A clearer definition, an example, a correction or a source an editor can check. Editors review every suggestion before the entry changes.
Last reviewed . Written by The Semiconductor Hub editorial team. The full glossary