New EMC directive and LVD - NLF (New Legislative Framework) recast

European Commission (Photo credit: tiseb)

Voting has concluded and a number of CE marking directives have undergone a “recast” to align with the European Commission New Legislative Framework (NLF). Among the new directives for electrical products are the Electromagnetic compatibility EMC Directive and Electrical equipment designed for use within certain voltage limits Low Voltage Directive.

The updated directives align them with the legislation laid down within the “NLF”. The NLF, adopted in 2008, is intended to improve market surveillance rules, require traceability within the supply chain, boost the quality of conformity assessment through stronger rules on the requirements imposed on conformity assessment bodies and testing laboratories, and stronger controls on the use of the “CE Mark” to enhance the marking credibility.

REF;

http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-14-111_en.htm – European Commission Press Release (Feb. 5th 2014)

Update to Radio Equipment Rules proposed by European Commission

Outside the Berlaymont building of the European Commission (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The European Commission proposed on Wednesday to update the Radio Equipment Directive. The proposal has three main goals;

1. To Strengthen the level of Compliance with the Directive
2. To Clarify the Directive
3. To Simplify the Directive

Market surveillance will be a big part of the primary objective to strengthen the level of compliance. The new requirements will clearly spell out the responsibilities and obligations for every market player be it the manufacturer or importer. Simplification will come in the form of reduced administrative overhead such as suppression of notification requirements of certain products. The proposal also introduces some new requirements such as control of Software, and Interoperability with accessories, and networks.

The new R&TTE directive is also to be aligned with the New Legislative Framework (NLF). The NLF negotiations were conducted at the Member States level, and without consideration for specific Directives. As a result many of the New Approach Directives have become misaligned with the NLF. In late 2011 a package of 9 other recast draft directives, “aligned” with the NLF have been submitted to the EU Council and Parliament.

· Low Voltage Directive 
· EMC Directive
· ATEX Directive
· Lifts Directive
· Simple Pressure Vessels Directive
· Measuring Instruments Directive
· Non-automatic Weighing Instruments Directive
· Civil Explosives Directive
· Pyrotechnic Articles Directive
 
Ref:
Draft RE directive
http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-12-1109_en.htm
http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/sectors/rtte/documents/legislation/review/index_en.htm
http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies/single-market-goods/regulatory-policies-common-rules-for-products/new-legislative-framework/

New R&TTE and EMC Standards List Published in OJ

New Harmonized standards lists have been published in the Official Journal of the European Union for the Radio and Telecommunication Terminal Equipment(R&TTE) Directive and the EMC Directive.

R&TTE Directive Standards List

EMC Directive Standards List

2011 market surveillance report EU –are tablet PCs a target for 2012?

Image via Wikipedia

Bundesnetzagentur (Federal Network Agency) of Germany, for Electricity, Gas, Telecommunications, Post and Railway has the responsibility to carry out the market surveillance under the EMC and R&TTE Directives.

The agency published a summary of the 2011 market surveillance campaign on its web site. The campaign’s primary focus in 2011 was with the EMC directive and in particular, LED lighting equipment. The report also combines results from the 2010 and 2011 campaigns to give a summary overall and to achieve a low error probability due to the larger sample size.

For some background on emissions concerning LED product, see July 2011 post “Radio interference from LED lighting”.

The surveillance looked at administrative conformity, such as marking, documentation and declarations, as well as the technical aspects of the directive namely compliance with the emissions and immunity requirements. A total of 168 products were sampled in 2011.

On the administrative side, the surveillance found that 76.8% of the samples were compliant with the CE marking requirements, while only 39.9% were compliant with the Declaration of Conformity (DoC) requirements.

For the technical assessment, 61.5% of product complied with the radio emissions requirement, and 91.3% were found immune to specific interference phenomenon, out of 46 products tested overall.

In total, only 17.3% of LED lighting equipment was found to be fully compliant.

For the “reactive market surveillance”, the overall rate of non-compliance for electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) was 38.9%. For radio and telephone terminal equipment (R&TTE) a majority, 65.5%, was found non-compliant according to the report, but most concerning was that 75.6% of the R&TTE products checked were non-compliant with the safety and health measurement requirements.

The 2011 surveillance resulted in 90 EMC sales bans, 177 R&TTE sales bans, 353 “memoranda of understanding” between the two directives, and total revenues of €1,046,000

The report details some objectives for 2012 indicating supporting the revision of the EMC and R&TTE directives and transposition into national law, including harmonizing product assessment for market surveillance, and increasing cooperation with European market surveillance and customs authorities as well as adapting the national database for market surveillance results, to the European ICSMS database.

Two product group targets were mentioned for 2012, one a coordinated German/Dutch campaign targeting tablet PCs focused on the R&TTE directive, and another targeting “Ready-made connecting devices”, or laptop power supplies.

 

ref;

Market surveillance statistics 2011

New EMC Directive

Image via Wikipedia

I thought I would include this in my Q&A series.  I have been receiving these questions often,

“Do you expect that a new EMC directive will be coming ?”

and

“What impact may it have on my current test plan or program ?” 

The answer  to part one is yes, and it could be very soon. As part of  the “Goods package”, the current EMC directive, 204/108/EC, is being amended in what is called an alignment with the New Legislative Framework of the European Union (or NLF). The EMC directive is part of what is called an “Alignment Package”. Eight other directives will also be processed in this alignment.

On the second question, the first thing to note is that the new approach directives are not technical in nature, but rather legal documents. Think of them as the “Law” of the land on the topics they cover. How you comply with the laws are another matter. The technical aspects are primarily addressed by Harmonised Standards or “EN” specifications. So, the EMC technical requirements, i.e. your testing, should not be impacted by this amendment to the EMC directive. While it is expected that the scope of the EMC directive will remain essentially the same, anytime that a directive comes up for amendment, interested parties look at it as an opportunity to address issues they may want included, see for example my post on cables being proposed: http://www.emcrules.com/2011/12/ready-made-connecting-devices-cables.html

The areas that would see significant change are;

• your documents (Declaration of Conformity) will change.
• A new directive number may require documents be modified, such as test reports, however there should be a reasonable transition period.
• Traceability requirements and product labeling, with specific identifying information on each product.
• Economic operators must keep records of supplier and distributor (already required for consumer goods)
• New supply chain duties, harmonized across the EU.
• Enforcement authority will be able to target more directly those infringing due to supply chain reporting requirements.
• Expectation is that Post market surveillance activities could increase substantially (this is one of the main points of the “Goods Package”)

If not already, please subscribe to updates of the EMCrules blog. The blog is helpful in providing timely information on rule changes, and other topical news, that may affect our broad clientele. Comments are welcome.

 

ref;

EMC directive at EUR-Lex -  32004L0108

/* COM/2011/0763 final */  (Alignment of ten technical harmonisation directives to Decision No 768/2008/EC)

Marketing of products - CE conformity marking

New Legislative Framework (NLF) Alignment Package

Proposals to Align Nine Directives with the New Legislative Framework – Published by BIS Department for Business Innovation & Skills

Single market for goods New Legislative Framework