The government doesn't directly require a UL label, but the National Electric Code (which is produced by an independent organiztion, the NFPA) does. The NEC is

The government doesn't directly require a UL label, but the National Electric Code (which is produced by an independent organiztion, the NFPA) does. The NEC is adopted as law by most jurisdictions, so not complying with it means you won't get a building permit. Hence, in a roundabout way, it is required by law. As it stands, you're free to manufacture something without a UL label, but it won't be able to be installed in any building where the plans have to go through a permit process, so you'd have a hard time selling it to anyone. I didn't read anything in the article propose laws that would make unaccredited degrees illegal. What they said was there should be stricter standards for accreditation, overseen by the government. Right now some accreditation authorities are just organizations made up of a group of diploma-mill like universities who all agree to accredit each other. For engineering positions in the US government, they usually require that your school be specifically accredited by ABET, which is legitimate. I remember them conducting inspections at my school while I was there to determine that our engineering labs met their requirements.