. /.RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/IT/SPEC/Q4/13
5 June 2002
(02-3120)
Committee of Participants on the Expansion
of Trade in Information Technology ProductsOriginal:  English
SURVEY ON EMC/EMI
Replies to the Survey
Communication from the European Communities
The following communication, dated 3 June 2002, has been received from the Permanent
Mission of the European Communities.
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1. (a) Does your government have mandatory technical requirements for
electromagnetic interference of Information Technology equipment?  If so, please
identify.
The R&TTE and EMC Directives regulate EMC and EMI aspects in the Community. These
Directives lay down general and essential safety and protection requirements with which
products must comply. They do not prescribe specific technical requirements but, a general
reference is made to harmonised European standards, which when applied give presumption
of conformity with the essential requirements. However, the use of harmonised European
standards is voluntary and manufacturers are free to seek other technical solutions. These
standards are in general aligned with intern ational standards, unless there are pertinent
reasons to deviate from them.  The Dresden and Vienna agreements ensure coherence
between the work of CEN and CENELEC with the work of ISO and IEC, whereas there is
also co-operation between the ITU and ETSI.
(b) Are these requirements harmonized with CISPR 22?  If not, please explain the
current requirements.
Harmonised standards are based on international standards.  EN 55022 is the European
harmonised standard and is identical to CISPR 22.
2. (a) Does your government have mandatory technical requirements for
electromagnetic immunity of Information Technology equipment?  If so, please identify.
The Directives mentioned above also regulates immunity.
(b) Are these requirements harmonized with CISPR 24?  If not, please explain the
current requirements.
Harmonised standards are based on international standards.  EN 55024 is the European
harmonised standard and is identical to CISPR 24.G/IT/SPEC/Q4/13
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3. (a) What conformity assessment procedure for electromagnetic compatibility
(EMC/EMI), which includes both interference and immunity, does your government
require for approval of information technology products?
The Directives are based on manufacturers declaration of conformity without the need to seek
approval from a public authority or a recognised private body.  In some cases, the opinion of a
3rd party needs to be sought, but only where a manufacturer has not applied harmonised
standards or these are not available.
(b) May suppliers perform these procedures (e.g. testing, declaration of conformity),
or must third parties perform these procedures?
See response under a).
(c) What international guidelines or standards, if any, are those procedures based
on?  If not, what guidelines or standards are they based on ?
This question is in principle not relevant for the EC legislation mentioned above since the
conformity assessment procedure is the manufacturers’ declaration of conformity. However,
in the cases a third party can or does intervene, European standards and procedures are
aligned with international guidelines and standards, e.g. ISO 17025, ISO/IEC Guides 61 and
65 (the corresponding European standards are identical to these).
4. Has your regulatory authority received any complaint or had any problems regarding
the EMC/EMI aspects of the approved information technology products?  If yes, how
frequent?  And please identify the nature of the complaint/problem.
European market surveillance authorities regularly take non-complying products from the
market or prescribe other measures in view of preventing recurrence of non-compliance. The
measures taken must be in proportion to the risks/non-compliance identified.
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