EN 55013 modified and draft going for vote

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EN 55013 is the EMC emissions standard for broadcast receivers and associated equipment. The standard is aligned with the European Union’s EMC directive as published in the official journal. The EMC directive is a CE marking directive, and compliance with this directive is compulsory for most electrical / electronic products prior to placing on the European market.

Previously reported in a post back in the summer of 2009, EN 55013, QP vs RMS, it was noted that the EU commission was holding off publishing reference to the newest edition of EN 55013, 2009, in the Official Journal.

The CENELEC technical committee, CLC/TC 210, had decided that the standard should not be published, without the link to the EMC Directive, and accordingly has set up a task force to seek a resolution.

It was agreed that the new draft common modifications should be circulated under UAP. The current project name is EN 55013:201X

The CLC/TC 210 Secretary proposed that the following explanation appear in the forward to the draft common modifications, furthermore this is not to be included in the final publish standard, should the draft be accepted:

“The text of CISPR/I/296/FDIS, the future CISPR 13 ed 5.0, received a positive vote in CENELEC, but was not ratified due to technical objections raised by the EMC Consultant. These would have prevented the listing of the standard in the Official Journal of the European Union as a harmonised standard providing a presumption of conformity with the protection requirements of the EMC Directive 2004/108/EC. The following draft includes common modifications to address these objections, and they have been agreed by the EMC Consultant and the responsible committee, TC210. It is submitted to UAP.”

It is expected that in light of the upcoming CISPR 32, perhaps appearing within a couple years, that EN 55013 will then be deleted. At that time, the use of the QP detector will have become obsolete and replaced by the RMS/Average detector.

It should be noted that the UK is not in favor of issuing the document under UAP, nor is Italy. The UK proposes to wait and see what happens with CISPR 32. The draft will be submitted under UAP none the less.

EN 55013, QP vs RMS

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The EU Commission is holding off publication of the CENELEC standard, EN 55013: 2009, in the official journal, as a result of a negative opinion of the EMC CENELEC consultant.

Publication in the official journal is a required step for any standard to be considered a harmonized standard, for the purpose of conformity assessment, under new approach directives, in this case, the European EMC directive.

The published harmonized version, as of March 1, 2009, is EN 55013: 2001 +A2 2006.

The point of contention with EN 55013: 2009, is the introduction of an RMS average limit.

Traditionally, measurements are based on a Quasi Peak limit, and made using a “Quasi Peak” detector. Legitimate debates continue regarding the suitability of the specified Quasi Peak detector based system for high frequency measurements, or for gauging interference caused to modern digital systems. See Practical Paper “The Quasi-Peak Detector” By Edwin L. Bronaugh for more about the QP detector.

The consultant points out that the proposed RMS average limit offers a “major relaxation of the limits, up to 20dB”, and contends that protection of analog services will be significantly reduced.

The question that the commission is looking to answer now is what effect this limit change will have on equipment using analog technology, as it is assumed that newer digital equipment has a higher tolerance for increased interference levels.

The commission is seeking the EMC working group delegate’s input by August 23, 2010 on whether or not the new standard adequately protects the essential requirements of the EMC directive.