From: RANDY%MPA15AB@TRENGA.tredydev.unisys.com
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Once For All Euro Telephone Approval
Date: 3 Apr 92 23:48:00 GMT
Article-I.D.: eecs.telecom12.297.1
Organization: TELECOM Digest
X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 12, Issue 297, Message 1 of 13


       ** International Information Center     Daily Newspaper **
    C O M P U T E R G R A M    Issue Number 1894     Date   02/04/92

        ONCE FOR ALL EUROCOMMUNITY COUNTRIES TELEPHONE
                  APPROVALS ARE STILL A DREAM

Forget the Euro-sausage, worry not about the single-harmonised pint of
beer. Difficulties over pig skin and yeast pale into insignificance
compared with those uncovered when the legislators started to try and
harmonise European telecommunications. This November a European
Commission Directive will come into effect which includes the mutual
recognition of terminal conformity. The alluringly-titled 91/263/EC -
that kind of thing appeals to the type of mind that inhabits the
Berlaymont and is assiduously traducing the European dream - aims to
deliver that much sought-after prize where a modem, X21 or ISDN board
manufacturer, for example, can build his device safe in the knowledge
that once it has been approved in one European Community country, it
is approved for all. France is currently implementing the directive
and all other member states must follow suit by November 6.
Unfortunately, "implementation" does not equate with "coming into
force": before the directive actually bites, necessary standards,
called common technical regulations, need to be finalised and, despite
hard work, the number of currently completed technical regulations
stands at precisely zero.

                   Common technical regulation

A common technical regulation specifies the essential requirements
that must be satisfied by a terminal before it can be attached to an
operator's network. They are requirements, not recommendations, and
brook no variation from country to country, but agreement on one of
these regulations does not necessarily imply network standardisation,
although it certainly helps. With some types of network, this isn't
too much of a problem.  Integrated Services Digital Networks -- ISDN --
and Group Speciale Mobile -- GSM -- radio networks, for example, are
already well circumscribed by international standards and while even
these areas do not have applicable common technical regulations yet,
drafting is well advanced and the first should appear, if not before
November, then at least soon after. 

The analogue public switched telephone network -- PSTN -- is a
different matter all together. Both its complexity and the historical
baggage that the telephone network carries with it stymie attempts at
harmonising or even rationalising the Community's telephone systems
within the framework developed by Community law. With progress close
to stalling, the members of the European Technical Standards Institute
 -- ETSI -- are looking at using what progress has been made as the
basis for mutual recognition of approvals -- a vote on the relevant
standard is under way and is due to close on May 22. Should the vote
go through, the ETSI member states will have agreed to recognise each
others approvals requirements.  Should the vote fall short of a single
pan-European approval test for public switched network equipment, it
would at least permit test laboratories in one country to certify
equipment for another, provided they followed country-specific
requirements. Whether or not the labs will actually want to tool up
for multiple countries is a question in itself.


Randy Gellens            randy%mpa15ab@trenga.tredydev.unisys.com
Opinions are personal; facts are suspect; I speak only for myself