TC 210 of the European Committee for Standardisation (CENELEC) met last 6-7 December in Brussels. This committee is responsible for European electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) standardisation at the highest level in the electric and electronics sector, co-ordinating groups that deal with aspects of EMC standardisation for specific products as well as basic EMC standards, generic and by product family.
Note the positive vote regarding standard EN 50561-1 on powerline communications (PLC), despite the negative assessment of EMC consultant Anton Kohling. The European Commission (EC) is gathering information for a decision, which will most likely be made at political level.
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) maintains its defence of dynamic notch filters. It holds that they protect shortwave (HF) broadcasting, notwithstanding the inter-modulation argument, which was not accepted. The associations representing Belgian and English amateur radio operators are in favour of the standard as it is.
A decision was made to begin standardisation work for PLCs above 30 MHz, but only if standard EN50561-1 obtains a positive result. However, above 30 MHz there is no work showing that the standard EN55022 protection levels are sufficient to protect radio spectrum vis-à-vis these PLCs.
The smart-metering industry (meters, timers, controllers) also expressed concern about suspected PLC interference in the 2-150 kHz band.
The European Commission was represented by Dorota Papiewska (EMC Directive, 2004/108/EC) and Javier Arregui (R&TTE Directive, 1999/5/EC). Regarding the digital dividend, they gave a presentation calling attention to interference in the 800 MHz band, with Finland reporting problems in digital video broadcasting for terrestrial transmission (DVB-T2) originating in mobile broadband, long term evolution (LTE). They also warned of the need to improve receiver immunity in the 174-230 MHz and 470-862 MHz bands and to deal with worrisome out-of-band LTE emissions, including idle-mode. New developments are needed in standards EN55020 (immunity standard for broadcasting receivers) and EN55035 (immunity standard for multimedia equipment).
The R&TTE Directive is being revised; its scope will be altered, with article 3.2 applied to all equipment that systematically uses radio spectrum. The EMC directive will consequently be applied only to equipment that does not systematically use radio spectrum.
Jean-Paul Vetsuypens (CEN-CENELEC director of standardisation) attended the meeting’s closing session, marked by the farewell for outgoing chair Christian Verholt; he is retiring and will be replaced by John Davies.
The next meeting will be held in Berlin this coming 20-21 May.
