For these reasons, the Mobile & Wireless Forum (MWF) organised a recent workshop in Vienna, bringing together representatives of the European Commission, the European standardisation bodies and industry to share their expertise, give updates on the latest status and advice on how to deal with the practical implications for manufacturers. The speakers included Phil Chadwick, Chair of the CENELEC TC106X; Joe Wiart, Chair of Working Group 1 in TC 106X; Matthias Meier, Secretary of TC 106X; Michael Sharpe, Director of Technical Strategy at ETSI; and Pier Francesco Sammartino, Desk Officer of the RED in the European Commission.
ETSI and CENELEC are the two European standardisation bodies responsible for the preparation of Harmonised Standards under the Radio Equipment Directive (RED). These Harmonised Standards enable providers of equipment and services to demonstrate compliance with the requirements of the Directive, and thus be able to sell, deploy and operate them within the European Union. ETSI has released a number of standards for the RED which are currently in the process of being voted upon. However, they can only be officially used by manufacturers for demonstrating compliance once they are published in the Official Journal of the European Union.
CENELEC’s Technical Committee (TC) 106X committee is responsible for writing the Electromagnetic Fields (EMF) standards for products under the RED and the Low Voltage Directive (LVD) and is in the process of rewriting the EMF standards from the R&TTED to fit under the RED. While great progress is being made in the standards bodies, there will still be a delay between their approval as standards and their official recognition as harmonised standards under the RED.
The workshop therefore provided a great opportunity for those attending to learn more about the status of each of the standards, the implications and alternatives for dealing with the delays and how to best manage compliance processes during this period.
