The 49th meeting of CENELEC Technical Committee 210 was held last 13-14 May in Biel/Bienne, Switzerland, chaired by John Davies of the United Kingdom, with John Rayner of the United Kingdom as secretary. The schedule for the 29th TC210 meeting was approved by document TC210/Sec0815A/DA; the following agenda points stood out:
a) 4.2 - a decision was made to establish a group to identify the regulatory text for harmonised standards and the impacts of conflict with standards from the Special International Committee on Radio Interference (CISPR), and also to include TC210’s concerns regarding the non-availability of an electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) consultant in the report to CENELEC’s Technical Board (BT);
b) 6.1 - the need for TC210 technical personnel to monitor the process of updating the list of harmonised standards from the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) was noted, specifically the correction of EN 50561-1, the European standard for communication equipment in powerlines used in low tension infrastructures – radio interference characteristics – limits and measurement methods – Part 1: equipment for household use;
c) 6.2 - in the discussion on the future of EN 50561-3 regarding communication equipment in powerlines used in low tension infrastructures - radio interference characteristics – limits and measurement methods - Part 3: equipment operating above 30 MHz, mention was made that the national committees need to understand the reason for changing the limits and to not vote against the standard only because it involves powerline communications (PLC). TC210 will thus inform the BT that it decided to withdraw the request to shorten the EN 50561-3 inquiry/comment period from five to three months;
d) 7.2 - the proposal to modify EN 55020 on sound and TV broadcast receivers and associated equipment - immunity characteristics - limits and measurement methods, was discussed with a view to including digital video broadcasting (DVB), namely via satellite (DVB-S), terrestrial digital TV broadcasting system (DVB-T) and cable (DVB-C), in the radiated immunity test. For TV manufacturers the consequences are that more tests mean additional costs. It was also commented that DVB-S might have unknown implications. A decision was made to make clear in the report to the BT that the items raised in document TC210/Sec0815A/DA of working group 12 (WG12) were evaluated, with the conclusion that WG12 must wait for inputs from the joint working group (JWG) before carrying out future work on immunity in long term evolution (LTE) broadcasting receivers. An agreement was made to include the request for ratification of amendment 1 (A1) of EN 55020, which should have been automatic after the positive vote;
e) 5 - consensus was not reached regarding the ratification of Standard EN 55035 on electromagnetic compatibility of multimedia equipment immunity requirements, whereby it should not be mentioned in the OJEU, i.e. it should not be a harmonised standard. A decision was made to alert the European Standardisation Committee (CEN) – CENELEC Management Centre (CCMC) by letter about these problems with respect to parallel voting, which may happen more frequently in the future;
f) 9.1 - working group 13 (WG13) was to supply a rectification modification for EN 50498, a standard for the family of electronic equipment products for resale in vehicles, on a missing link of Directive 2004/104/EC, concerning the approximation of member states’ legislation vis-à-vis type approval of motor vehicles and their trailers to Directive 2004/108/EC, concerning the approximation of member states’ legislation regarding electromagnetic compatibility. CENELEC Guide 25 on the use of standards for implementation of the EMC Directive to apparatuses should be evaluated after updating Guide 107 on electromagnetic compatibility - guide to the drafting of electromagnetic compatibility publications – from the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). Also, the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) has no equivalent document, whereby agreement was reached to submit the proposal to ETSI so a joint document can be produced.
The next meeting will be held on 16-17 December 2014 in Brussels. The following ones will be on 19-20 May and 8-9 December 2015.
