Dublin hosted last 2-3 May a meeting of the Radio and Telecommunications Terminal Equipment Compliance Association (R&TTE CA) and a meeting of the notified bodies and competent authorities in the scope of the Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) Directive of the European Union Association of Notified Bodies (EUANB). A total of 60 participants attended, representing administrations, the European Commission (EC), notified bodies (NBs), competent authorities (CABs), standardisation bodies and observers.
The following stand out among the issues covered at the meeting:
- Some participants indicated problems using the website of the Communication and Information Resource Centre for Administrations, Businesses and Citizens (CIRCABC), particularly when downloading long documents. The EC representative was to report this situation to the Communication & Information Resource Centre Administrator (CIRCA) services. The German regulator, Bundesnetzagentur (BNetzA), will provide an email reflector address that will allow EUANB members to post their questions for information exchanges/knowledge sharing.
- The EC representative reported that the text of the revised new Radio Directive (RE-D) was under discussion in the Council and in the European Parliament and that two meetings had already been held in March and April 2013. The Commission committee responsible for this area is Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO). Another meeting is planned for June/July, now under the Lithuanian presidency. Plans call for the new Radio Directive to be available, in principle, in early 2014;
- Regarding different interpretations of the requisites to consider for TV receivers with wireless function, it is understood that TV receivers are apparently within the scope of the EMC Directive. But if they are supplied with wireless function (Bluetooth, wireless LAN, etc) then they are covered by the R&TTE Directive. That means that the EMC and radio electric security aspects are covered by applying procedures from the R&TTE Directive. If the product family standards are mentioned in the Declaration of Conformity (DoC) then there is no need to mention all the individual product standards. For example, standard EN 301 489 is applied, which automatically covers EMC standards such as EN61000-3-2 and EN61000-3-3;
- The EC representative reported that acceptance of the new EMC Directive is taking more time than expected. Adoption into law is expected in October 2013. The new text of the Directive is thus foreseen for the end of this year or early 2014.
The next meeting will be held in Spain’s Canary Islands on 27-28 November 2013.