Now Is the Time to Comply with the R&TTE DirectiveBy Ken White, British Standards Institution |
Introduction
It's decision time. From 8 April 2001, all radio and telecommunications terminal equipment on the market in the EEA must comply with the R&TTE Directive, RTED. Approvals under the previous TTE Directive for telecom equipment are no longer valid.
National approvals for radio transmission equipment are also no longer valid. The industry has been quiet since the transition period began on 8 April 2000. Requests for help to BSI's Technical Information Group from manufacturers wanting to know their responsibilities under the R&TTE Directive have been few and far between. They have still had the choice of continuing to sell their products under approvals from the old regimes. In fact many approval authorities had a flurry of activity to gain approvals prior to April 2000, after which no more approvals were permitted. Even though approval is no longer required, the new regime is such an unknown that confidence in the old one seemed far preferable to many.
Evolving Regime
Remember the EMC Directive when it first came in? So many unanswered questions: so many questions hadn't even been asked! There weren't even any standards to use with it. It was an evolving regime. It took some years to unfold, some years for the difficulties to be ironed out. Now we face the evolving R&TTE regime. BSI TIG were inundated with calls about the EMC Directive then, together with the LVD when it required CE marking.
What have we seen evolve so far? The first batch of standards linked to RTED appeared in the EC OJ on 7 April 2000, but none have appeared since. At the same time, all relevant standards linked to the Low Voltage Directive on the safety of electrical products and the EMC Directive were linked to RTED as well.
Commission Decisions have been published for the initial classification of equipment; the "Alert" mark for radio equipment with special restrictions imposed on it by countries - a stylized exclamation mark;
PSTN equipment in France will continue to have current limiting until October 2002; a special essential requirement providing access to emergency services has been invoked for radiotelephones on inland waterways and radio communications equipment on certain sea-going vessels. A similar Decision for providing access to emergency services for avalanche beacons is expected soon.
The EC Commission and TCAM
TCAM is the industry ruling body, the Telecommunication Conformity Assessment and Market Surveillance Committee. It comprises representatives of the EC member states and is chaired by a representative from the EC Commission. TCAM has been seeking to provide answers to many of the issues which have been raised by RTED. Their role is to advise the EC Commission, and make proposals. The Commission must "take the utmost account" of the opinions of TCAM. They assemble, however, only about four times a year. TCAM can make advisory decisions, e.g. relating to harmonized standards, and regulatory decisions such as invoking additional essential requirements for particular products.
The EC Commission was due to make the first progress report on the operation of the directive by October 1999. This has not yet appeared. It may be that enough progress has not been made to make it worthwhile. The report is to include any problems that have arisen in the course of implementation. Perhaps it may be beneficial to wait until there are not so many to report on. What kind of problems are there, of most interest to manufacturers? One is certainly the need for a declaration of conformity (DoC). In common with other EC directives, a manufacturer or his appointed representative in the EC must draw up a DoC. Unlike the other directives, however, RTED does not indicate what the DoC should contain. Furthermore, users must be provided with the "declaration of conformity to the essential requirements". Certain manufacturers in the past have been providing a DoC for other directives with their user documentation, although it has not been a requirement. Those that have not are finding this difficult to come to terms with. This whole subject has been a source of much discussion in TCAM. Some guidance is likely to come from the EC Commission in due course. In the meantime, what will you decide to do? Can you afford to wait? Unofficial recommendations are available from reliable sources.
Kits are another cause for concern. Kits of components to be assembled by radio amateurs are not regarded as commercially available equipment, and are not covered by the directive. The directive refers to the ITU definition for radio amateurs. What about other types of kit, and other kinds of user? How about children in school: do they need to follow a conformity assessment procedure before they can power up their experiments?
Other problems TCAM has been wrestling with concern the definition of "equipment", whether the signatory of a DoC is personally responsible, what needs to be included on a product label, equipment not intended to be used in the EC, use of alarm systems for emergency services etc.
EC Directives and the Countries of Europe
The EC Commission develops EC Directives, which direct the EC member states to implement them in their national legislation. They are also implemented in the EEA states outside the EU, which are Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein. There are still major countries which have not yet implemented RTED, but the directive is still binding there. Switzerland has implemented this directive, although it is outside the EEA. The following East European states are also preparing to implement this directive: Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovak Republic and Estonia. EC Directives provide a single market for products that fall within their scopes. What this means is, that if a product is permitted to be sold in one country, it must be permitted to be sold in all the others.
Now Is the Time
Things are likely to hot up after 8 April when the transition period ends. Manufacturers are going to have to face up to these difficulties in earnest. As problems get resolved through agreements in TCAM between countries, or through pressure from the EC Commission, things will become clearer, and official guidance is likely to become available. But does that mean that things will become easier? Not necessarily. In some cases this could result in things becoming more difficult for manufacturers.
What is really going to happen on 8 April 2001 concerning RTED and the equipment it regulates? The world didn't come to an end when RTED first came into force on 8 April 1999, nor when the transition period started on 8 April 2000. Hopefully we shall safely see the dawn of 8 April 2001. Rest assured RTTE products would have to comply with RTED: existing approvals will no longer be acceptable. Enforcement will vary from country to country. In the UK, Trading Standards are responsible for telecom terminal equipment, and the Radiocommunications Agency are responsible for radio equipment. It may take a while before action is taken against non-compliant products. In the meantime, it would be advisable if you are a manufacturer or importer to get a grip on what your responsibilities are. If you don't feel confident in doing that, why not consider obtaining:
