The 37th meeting of the EFIS MG working group was held on 13-14 April in Maisons-Alfort, France, chaired by Stefan Mayer-Bidmon of Germany and attended by twelve participants, including ten administrations (Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Luxembourg, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain and Switzerland) and the European Communications Office (ECO).
Among other activities, the EFIS MG working group is responsible for maintaining the EFIS portal (at www.efis.dk https://www.efis.dk/) and developing/updating it with respect to the European Commission’s new spectrum policy and the R&TTE Directive (concerning radio and telecommunications terminal equipment and mutual recognition of their conformity), particularly revision and integration of the radio interface specifications (RIS). It is also in charge of revising Decisions ECC/DEC/(01)03 (on EFIS) and ECC/DEC/(03)05 (on publication of information about frequency allocations and applications).
The group discussed progress made in the EFIS portal since the last EFIS MG meeting in October 2015; the following standing out: introduction of a new allocation labelled ‘not allocated’, used, for example to designate allocations subject to applications of the short range device (SRD) kind; introduction of improvements in the way statistics are generated vis-à-vis “ECO Report 03 - The licensing of ‘mobile bands’ in CEPT” and improvements made at exportation level vis-à-vis “ECO Report 04 - The implementation of fixed service channel arrangements and block assignments in CEPT countries”. Also, an EFIS section is now available with update histories, enabling the updates made by administrations to be consulted.
Also discussed were proposals to improve the EFIS portal in the future. Notably, Recommendation T/R 25-10 on Frequency Ranges for the Use of Terrestrial Audio and Video Programme Making and Special Events (PMSE) Applications is expected to be introduced in the EFIS, enabling information similar to Recommendation 70-03 and ECO Report 04 to be provided, specifically concerning their implementation by different administrations.
As usual, the administrations present at the meeting reported the current status of updates they have made or plan to make in the EFIS.
The group will also propose that the next Frequency Management working group meeting in May 2016 approve for consultation only involving administrations a proposed revision of Decision ECC(01)03, which proposes a new reference for the RE (Radio Equipment) Directive (2014/53/EU), a new specific Maritime Mobile-Satellite (Earth-to-space) and Maritime Mobile-Satellite (space-to-Earth) allocation in the wake of the 2015 World Radiocommunication Conference, a new layer 3 application designated as Wireless Avionics Intra-Communication Systems and replication of the Emergency Detection layer 3 application under the Non-Specific SRD layer 2 application.
A proposal was also made to revise ECO Report 05 on CEPT, ECC and EC Deliverables - Relation to application terminology in ECC Decision (01)03 Annex 2 to reflect new documentation that serves as a basis for defining the terms for applications used in the EFIS portal.
Also considered was an RIS form proposal vis-à-vis the new Decision ECC (16)01 on The Harmonised Frequency Band 75-77 GHz, Technical Characteristics, Exemption from Individual Licensing and Free Carriage and Use of Obstacle Detection Radars for Rotorcraft Use.
