Legislation - A Brief Overview

This section covers the following areas of the EU legislation
with respect to the EMC and R&TTE Directives:

• The EMC Directive - A Brief History
• The EMC Directive - 89/336/EEC, A Brief Summary
• The EMC Directive - 2004/108/EC, A Brief Summary
• The New EMC Directive - Primary Differences
• The EMC Directive - Our Viewpoint
• The R&TTE Directive - A Brief History
• The R&TTE Directive - A Brief Summary
• Complying with the EMC Directive
• Complying with the R&TTE Directive
• Complying with the R&TTE Directive - Some Observations

The EMC Directive - A Brief History

Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) on a global scale was first introduced into European law with the the publication of the EMC Directive 89/336/EEC in the Official Journal of the European Community (OJEC, shortened to OJ). The original Directive came into force on the 23 May 1989 with its publication in the OJ (L139 pages 19-26, 23.05.89). Member states were given until 1 July 1991 to adopt the laws into their national legislation (Article 12). Member states had to apply the provisions of the Directive from 1 January 1992 (Article 12) with a transition period ending on 31 December 1992 (Article 10(3)). On the 12 May 1992, Directive 92/31/EEC was published in the OJ (L126 page 11, 12.05.92) amending Directive 89/336/EEC (Article 1) with the deletion of Article 10(3) and modifying Article 12(1), thereby extending the transition period to the 31 December 1995.

On the 23 May 1991, the EMC Directive was amended by Directive 91/263/EEC (OJ L128/1, 23 May 1991) which covers the conformity of Telecommunications Terminal Equipment. Article 9(4) of this Directive deletes Article 10(4) of the EMC Directive which refers to the conformity of Telecommunications Terminal Equipment for EMC. Telecommunications Terminal Equipment was at that time covered by Directive 86/361/EEC (OJ L217/21, 8 May 1986) which did not include EMC requirements.

On the 24 November 1993, the EMC Directive was again amended by Directive 93/97/EEC (OJ L290 pages 1 - 8, 24 November 1993) which adds the requirements of Satellite Earth Station equipment to Directive 91/263/EEC. Article 8(3) of Directive 93/97/EEC deletes the EMC requirements for Telecommunications Terminal Equipment and Satellite Earth Station equipment, covered by Directives 91/263/EEC and 93/97/EEC from Article 10(5) of the EMC Directive.

On the 30 August 1993, the EMC Directive was amended by the CE Marking Directive, 93/68/EEC (OJ L220 pages 1 - 22, 30 August 1993). This Directive applied to a number of New Approach Directives and resulted in fairly extensive changes. Article 5 of Directive 93/68/EEC applies to the EMC Directive with changes summarised as follows:

• The term 'EC mark' is replaced by the term 'CE marking'
• Article 3 has completely new text. The change is essentially to add the requirement to bear the CE Mark and comply with the provisions of the Directive including the conformity assessment procedures of Article 10 of the Directive.
• Article 10(1) has an extra subparagraph added. The extra text reflects the need to prevent deceit from erroneous markings in relation to CE marking.
• Article 10(6) has replacement text for the first subparagraph. This reflects the need to notify the Commission of competent authorities responsible for issuing EC type examination certificates.
• Article 10 has an extra paragraph added. This reflects the action to be taken if incorrect affixing of the CE Mark.
• Annex I Section 2 has replacement text. This gives clarity to the form of the CE Mark and scaling in size and reference to the year of first application is deleted. The requirement to state which Directives have been applied is included if a manufacturer has taken advantage of transitional arrangements for some of the applicable Directives.

On the 12 March 19998, the EMC Directive was again amended by Directive 98/13/EC (OJ L074 pages 1 - 26, 12 March 1998). Article 31 of this Directive deletes equipment in the scope of the Directive from Article 10(5) of 89/336/EEC. This is a restatement of Article 8(3) of Directive 93/97/EEC.

The EMC Directive 89/336/EEC (as amended) has been replaced by the new EMC Directive 2004/108/EC (OJ L390 pages 24 - 37, 31 December 2004) which was introduced on 1 January 2005. Member states had until 20 January 2007 to implement the Directive and the provisions had to be implemented by 20 July 2007. Equipment placed on the market or put into service before 20 July 2009 may still comply with the requirements of EMC Directive 89/336/EEC although this has been repealed by 2004/108/EC. Guidance documents for this Directive and the old Directive 89/336/EEC can be downloaded from our site in pdf format by clicking the following links.

Click here for guidelines for Directive 2004/108/EC.
Click here for guidelines for Directive 89/336/EEC.

< EMC History < Top

The EMC Directive - Our Viewpoint

When first introduced, the EMC Directive was seen by many manufacturers as a bit of a nuisance which had been inflicted on them, rather than an essential piece of legislation intended to preserve the radio spectrum. Nowadays EMC has to be considered for aspects of safety to guard against malfunction of equipment, rather than just to preserve an increasingly congested radio spectrum.

We at Kernow EMC Limited believe that EMC is more than just a legislative nuisance. EMC, on the other hand, is a set of environmental parameters similar to the traditional temperature, shock and vibration, which carry the additional legal burden of regulatory compliance. Failure to comply with the legislation within the EU can result in legal proceedings with serious consequences, as a number of companies will no doubt testify. In the event of a successful prosecution, fines of up to £5000 can be imposed. For serious cases, imprisonment of the responsible person (he who signs the DOC), fines and destruction of the product can be imposed. When a non-compliance is reported, the product must be immediately withdrawn from sale and use within the EU, and the member states notified until compliance has been achieved. A reasonable amount of time is normally given for remedial action and court action is normally only taken if a manufacturer shows no sign of taking such remedial action or takes an unreasonable amount of time to respond.

< EMC History < Top

The R&TTE Directive - A Brief History

The Radio and Telecommunications Terminal Equipment (R&TTE) Directive 1999/5/EC came into force on the 8 April 2000. Prior to that, equipment which performed the function of a terminal connected to the public telecommunications network had to meet the requirements of the Telecommunications Terminal Equipment (TTE) Directive 86/361/EEC (OJ L217 page 21, 5 August 1986). This Directive only covered terminal equipment intended for connection to the public telecommunications network and excluded radio transmission equipment. The essential requirements for conformance to the Directive were restricted to the following:

• User safety in areas not covered by the Low Voltage Directive 73/23/EEC.
• Safety of employees of the telecommunications network operators where not covered by 73/23/EEC.
• Protection of the public telecommunications networks from harm.
• Inter working of terminal equipment.

No requirements for EMC were included in this Directive although they were subsequently added by Article 10(4) of the EMC Directive 89/336/EEC. Proof of conformance was achieved through type approval of the apparatus to a series of Common Conformity Specifications which were to be in the form of NETS (Norme Européenne de Télécommunications).

On 23 May 1991, the Telecommunications Terminal Equipment Directive 91/263/EEC came into force with its publication in the OJ (OJ L128 page 1, 23 May 1991). The essential requirements of the Directive were detailed in Article 4 and covered the following:

• User safety in areas not covered by the Low Voltage Directive 73/23/EEC.
• Safety of employees of the telecommunications network operators where not covered by 73/23/EEC.
• Electromagnetic Compatibility, as is specific to terminal equipment.
• Protection of the public telecommunications networks from harm.
• Inter working of terminal equipment.
• Effective use of the radio spectrum, where appropriate.

This Directive brought radio transmission equipment for use in telecommunications into its scope and also made provision for electromagnetic compatibility. Article 10(4) of the EMC Directive 89/336/EEC was therefore deleted. Conformity assessment was either by EC type examination or by EC declaration of conformity. Directive 91/263/EEC was amended in 1993 by the publication of Directive 93/97/EEC in the OJ (OJ L290 pages 1 - 8, 24 November 1993). Directive 93/97/EEC added the requirements for the conformity assessment of Satellite Earth Station equipment to 91/263/EEC. These requirements were in essence the requirements laid out in Article 4 of 91/263/EEC. Because the EMC Directive 89/336/EEC made provision for radio transmission equipment under Article 10(5), Directive 93/97/EEC removed the requirement as it was now covered by Article 4(4) of 93/97/EEC. Conformity assessment used the same methods as 91/263/EEC with the use of transposed harmonised standards or through the creation of common technical regulations. Organisations used for the type examination of Telecommunications Terminal Equipment included KTL, BABT and the RA (now Ofcom). Excluded from all this legislation of course was radio transmission equipment not used for the purpose of telecommunications, which still had to undergo the type approval process to specifications issued by the RA (e.g. MPT XXXX).

The Type Approval process involved submitting samples to an accredited agency for test to the relevant standard, obtaining an appropriate certificate and affixing to the product a declaration that it was type approved to that standard. In addition, the requirements for Safety and EMC still had to be satisfied before the product could be CE Marked.

On 12 March 1998, Directive 98/13/EC came into force with its publication in the OJ (OJ L074 pages 1 - 26, 12 March 1998). This Directive effectively replaced both 91/263/EEC and 93/97/EEC and combined them into one Directive covering Telecommunications Terminal equipment and Satellite Earth Station equipment. The essential requirements of this Directive were detailed in Article 5 and were in essence identical to the requirements detailed in Article 4 of Directive 91/263/EEC. Conformity Assessment was either by EC Type Examination or by EC Declaration of Conformity, at the choice of the manufacturer. The performance requirements for the apparatus concerned were contained in Common Technical Regulations. Radio Transmission equipment not used for telecommunications was still excluded from this Directive.

With the introduction of Directive 98/13/EC, equipment falling within its scope was removed from the EMC requirements of Article 10(5) of Directive 89/336/EEC. Directives 91/263/EEC and 93/97/EEC were repealed as was Article 11 of the CE Marking Directive 93/68/EEC as the requirements for CE marking introduced by this Directive were incorporated in Article 4 of 98/13/EC.

It became apparent that the TTE Directive 98/13/EC had to undergo major revision and so a new Directive was produced for the following reasons:

1. The TTE Directive 98/13/EC could not cope with new developments in technology and new market developments - particularly in the field of radio.
2. The TTE Directive did not cover a substantial part of the radio market.
3. There was a need for a number of harmonised standards for the presumption of conformity.
4. There was a need to cover the situation where use of the radio spectrum was not fully harmonised and to give Member States the opportunity to control the use of apparatus operating in bands which may conflict with equipment already in use.
5. Although the Low Voltage Directive 73/23/EEC was suitable in terms of scope, the lower voltage limit was removed presumably because Central Office telecommunications equipment operates at high power below the minimum voltage of the Directive.
6. Radio equipment for uses other than telecommunications, was subject to type approval testing only. Whilst this was relevant to the control of the radio frequency spectrum, there was no requirement for EMC. The EMC Directive 89/336/EEC was considered appropriate for this class of apparatus.
7. The EMC Directive was considered appropriate for TTE equipment also.

The introduction of the R&TTE Directive combined the essential requirements and the demonstration of presumption of conformity of all apparatus operating in the field of radio communications, telecommunications terminals and satellite earth stations with exclusions defined in the Directive. With the essential requirements and the demonstration of presumption of conformity resting on the use of harmonised standards or via a Technical File vetted by a notified Body rather than through the process of EC type examination, the process of conformance has been simplified to some extent. It is now up to the manufacturer or the Agent responsible for placing the product on the market within the EU, to ensure compliance with the R&TTE Directive, which invokes both the EMC Directive and the Low Voltage Directive, and to self-certify the product and affix the CE Mark accordingly.

One important difference relating to the Low Voltage Directive is that, when invoked by the R&TTE Directive, the lower voltage limit is removed.

< R&TTE History < EMC Viewpoint < EMC History < Top

Page last updated: 11 November 2007 04:17:42