WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/IT/SPEC/Q4/24
23 April 2003
(03-2152)
Committee of Participants on the Expansion
of Trade in Information Technology ProductsOriginal:  English
SURVEY ON EMC/EMI
Replies to the Survey
Communication from the United States
The following communication, dated 17 April 2003, has been received from the Permanent
Mission of the United States.
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1. (a) Does your government have mandatory technical requirements for
electromagnetic interference of Information Technology equipment?  If so, pleaseidentify.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has mandatory technical requirements for
electromagnetic interference from Information Technology equipment. The requirements are
found in 47 CFR Part 15.
Information Technology equipment is classified as “unintentional radiators” and is required to
comply with conducted emission limits (§15.107) and radiated emission limits (§15.109).
(b) Are these requirements harmonized with CISPR 22?  If not, please explain the
current requirements.
Line Conducted Emissions
The EMC line conducted emission requirements for Information Technology Equipment are
harmonised with CISPR 22.
• Since the power supply of Information Technology equipment may be designed to
operate at different power line frequencies or voltages, testing is to be performed
separately for conducted emissions with each different power supply that will be installed
in the equipment when marketed in the United States or, when a power supply that can
operate in different mode, i.e., can accommodate various power line voltages and
frequencies, with the Information Technology equipment operating in each mode suitable
for connection to the AC power service in the United States.
Radiated Emissions
Information Technology Equipment is allowed to comply with the FCC general radiated
emission limits or as alternative may be shown to comply with the limits for radiated emission
in CISPR 22 (1997).G/IT/SPEC/Q4/24
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• The test procedure referenced in the FCC Rules (§15.31) continues to apply to the testing
of ITE when using the CISPR 22 limits.
• Depending on the frequency of operation of the Information Technology equipment,
measurements may be required to be performed above 1000 MHz (§15.33) to
demonstrate that Information Technology equipment complies with the FCC limits.
(§15.109)
2. (a) Does your government have mandatory technical requirements for
electromagnetic immunity of Information Technology equipment?  If so, please identify.
The United States has no mandatory technical requirements for electromagnetic immunity of
Information Technology equipment.
(b) Are these requirements harmonized with CISPR 24?  If not, please explain the
current requirements.
No, as immunity requirements are not mandato ry, compliance with CISPR 24 is voluntary.
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?
Information Technology Equipment is required to be authorized prior to the initiation of
marketing using either the Declaration of Conformity or Certification procedure defined inthe FCC Rules. The supplier of the equipment may select either procedure to demonstrate
compliance with the FCC Rules.
The Declaration of Conformity procedure allows the supplier to declare compliance to the
FCC Rules based on testing performed by a recognized accredited testing laboratory.
The Certification procedure allows Information Technology equipment to be certified to the
FCC Rules by a recognized Telecommunication Certification Body (TCB).
(b) May suppliers perform these procedures (e.g. testing, declaration of conformity),
or must third parties perform these procedures?
Yes, testing by an in-house recognized accredited laboratory is acceptable and suppliers can
undertake the testing and Declaration of Conformity (DoC).  It is not necessary for third
parties to perform these procedures.
(c) What international guidelines or standards, if any, are those procedures based
on?  If not, what guidelines or standards are they based on ?
For products using the declaration of conformity procedure, testing is to be performed by a
testing laboratory accredited to ISO/IEC 17025.
For products using the certification procedure, the third-party certification body is accredited
to ISO/IEC Guide 65.G/IT/SPEC/Q4/24
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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.
No, we are not aware of any complaints.
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