CELEX: 51992PC0451
Language: en
Date: 1992-12-10
Title: Proposal for a COUNCIL DIRECTIVE on the approximation of the laws of the Member States concerning satellite earth station equipment, extending the scope of Council Directive 91/263/EEC

8 . 1 . 93                               Official Journal of the European Communities                                 No C 4 / 3
                                                                 II
                                                         (Preparatory Acts)
                                                    COMMISSION
               Proposal for a Council Directive on the approximation of the laws of the Member States
              concerning satellite earth station equipment, extending the scope of Council Directive
                                                           91 /263 /EEC
                                                           (93/ C 4/03)
                                                  COM(92) 451 final — SYN 444
                                       (Submitted by the Commission on 11 December 1992)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                             earth station equipment, including the mutual recog­
                                                                     nition of their conformity, in line with the principles
                                                                     already established in Directive 91 /263/EEC (J) on the
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European                approximation of the laws of the Member States
Economic Community, and in particular Article 100a                   concerning telecommunications terminal equipment
thereof,                                                             including the mutual recognition of their conformity ;
                                                                     Whereas the goal of an advanced open Community-wide
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,                   market for satellite earth station equipment requires
                                                                     effective and efficient harmonized procedures for certifi­
                                                                     cation, testing, marking, quality assurance and product
In cooperation with the European Parliament,                         surveillance ; whereas the alternative to Community legis­
                                                                     lation is an analogous system of provisions negotiated
                                                                     between Member States which would involve obvious
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and                     difficulties because of the number of organisms which
Social Committee,                                                    would be involved in multiple bilateral negotiations ;
                                                                     whereas, on the contrary, the form of a Community
                                                                     directive has repeatedly shown itself, in the sector of
Whereas the Commission has issued a Green Paper (')                  telecommunications among others, as a practicable, rapid
on a common approach in the field of satellite communi­              and efficient means ; whereas the objective of the action
cations in the European Community proposing the intro­               under consideration can therefore be better achieved at
duction of mutual recognition of type approval for                   Community level ;
satellite earth station equipment as one of the major
pre-conditions for, inter alia, a Community-wide market              Whereas Community law in its present form provides —
for satellite earth station equipment ;                              notwithstanding one of the fundamental rules of the
                                                                     Community, namely the free movement of goods — that
                                                                     obstacles to movement within the Community, resulting
Whereas the Council resolution of 19 December 1991 (2)               from disparities in national legislations relating to the
on the development of the common market for satellite                marketing of products, must be accepted in so far as
communications services and equipment, considers as                  such requirements can be recognized as being necessary
one of the major goals in satellite telecommunications               to satisfy essential requirements ; whereas, therefore, the
policy the harmonization and liberalization of appro­                harmonization of laws in this case must be limited only
priate satellite earth station equipment, subject, in                to those requirements necessary to satisfy the essential
particular, to conditions necessary for compliance with              requirements relating to satellite earth station equipment ;
essential requirements ;                                             whereas these requirements must replace the relevant
                                                                     national requirements because they are essential ;
Whereas the Council resolution of 19 December 1991                   Whereas Council Directive 73 / 23 / EEC on the harmon­
notes with interest the intention of the Commission to               ization of the laws of the Member States relating to elec­
propose measures for the approximation of the laws of                trical equipment designed for use within certain voltage
the Member States concerning the appropriate satellite               limits (") and Council Directive 83 / 189/ EEC laying
(') COM(9C)) 490 final, 20. 11 . 1990.                               (3) OJ No L 128 , 23 . 5 . 1991 , p. 1 .
O OJ No C 8 , 14 . 1 . 1992, p. 1 .                                  (4) OJ No L 77, 26. 3 . 1973 , p. 29 .
 ---pagebreak--- No C 4 / 4                                   Official Journal of the European Communities                                     8 . 1 . 93
down a procedure for the provision of information in the               Whereas the scope of this Directive must be based on a
field of technical standards and regulations ('), as                   general definition of the term 'satellite earth station
amended by Directive 88 / 182/EEC (2), are applicable,                 equipment' so as to allow the technical development of
 inter alia, to the fields of telecommunications and infor­            products ; whereas the scope excludes purpose-built
mation technology ;                                                    satellite earth station equipment intended for use as part
                                                                       of the public telecommunications network infrastructure ;
Whereas Council Directive 89 / 336/EEC on the approxi­
mation of the laws of the Member States relating to elec­              Whereas satellite earth station equipment is configured,
tromagnetic compatibility (3) sets out harmonized                      as far as its interface to the space based system is
procedures for the protection of apparatus by electro­                 concerned, either for both the transmission and reception
magnetic disturbances and defines the protection                       of radio communications signals, or for the
requirements and inspection procedures thereto ; whereas               reception-only of radio communications signals ;
the general requirements of Directive 89/ 336/EEC also
apply to satellite earth station equipment; whereas elec­              Whereas satellite earth station equipment is, as far as the
tromagnetic compatibility requirements in so far as they               terrestrial interface is concerned, either capable of and
are specific to satellite earth station equipment are                  intended for, or capable of but not intended for, or not
covered by this Directive ;                                            capable of, connection to the public telecommunications
                                                                       network ;
Whereas Decision 87 /95 /EEC (4) sets out the measures
to be implemented for the promotion of standardization                 Whereas orbits (such as the geo-stationary orbit, low
in Europe and the preparation and implementation of                    earth orbits and elliptical orbits) are paths in space
standards in the field of information technology and                   described by satellites or other space-based systems, and
telecommunications ;                                                   are limited nature-given resources ;
                                                                       Whereas orbital resources are used in conjunction with
Whereas in respect of the essential requirements and in                the radio frequency spectrum which is also a limited
order to help manufacturers to prove conformity to these               nature-given resource ;
essential requirements, it is desirable to have standards
harmonized at European level to safeguard the general                  Whereas the effective use of orbital resources in con­
interest in the design and manufacture of satellite earth              junction with the radio frequency spectrum and
station equipment and in order to allow checks of                      avoidance of harmful interference between space-based
conformity to these essential requirements, whereas these              and terrestrial communications systems and other
standards harmonized at European level are drawn up by                 technical systems is of importance for the development
private-law bodies and must retain their non-binding                   of European satellite communications ;
status ; whereas for this purpose the European
Committee for Standardization (CEN), the European                      Whereas harmonizing conditions for the placing on the
Committee          for       Electrotechnical     Standardization      market of satellite earth station equipment will create the
(Cenelec) and the European Telecommunications                          conditions for an open and unified market and further
Standards Institute (ETSI), are the bodies recognized as               will facilitate an effective use of orbital resources and the
competent to adopt harmonized standards ;                              radio frequency spectrum and facilitate avoidance of
                                                                       harmful interference between space-based and terrestrial
Whereas Directive 91 / 263 / EEC introduced the full                   communications systems and other technical systems ;
mutual recognition of type approval for telecommuni­
cations terminal equipment and established the Approvals               Whereas in respect of the essential requirements related
Committee for Terminal Equipment composed of repre­                    to effective use of orbital resources and the radio
sentatives of the Member States and chaired by the                     frequency spectrum, and avoiding harmful interference
representative of the Commission to assist the                         with space-based and terrestrial communications systems
Commission in executing the tasks entrusted to it by that              and other technical systems, it is in general not possible
Directive ;                                                            to comply with such requirements other than by the
                                                                       application of unique technical solutions ; whereas such
Whereas Directive 91 /263 /EEC does not explicitly apply               solutions shall therefore be mandatory ;
to satellite earth station equipment ;
                                                                       Whereas satellite earth station equipment, capable of
Whereas it is therefore necessary to extend to satellite
                                                                       being used for transmission and reception of radio
                                                                       communications signals, may be subject to licensing
earth station equipment the principles already established             terms , in addition to the provisions of this Directive ;
in Directive 91 / 263 / EEC in relation to telecommuni­
cations terminal equipment ;                                           Whereas satellite earth station equipment, only capable
                                                                       of being used for reception of radio communications
                                                                       signals, shall not be subject to licensing terms but only to
O   OJ  No   L 109, 26 . 4 . 1983, p. 8 .                              the provisions of this Directive unless they are intended
(2) OJ  No   L 81 , 26 . 3 . 1988 , p . 75 .                           for connection to the public telecommunications
O   OJ  No   L 139 , 23 . 5 . 1989, p . 19 .                           network, as proposed in the Green Paper on satellite
(4) OJ  No   L 36 , 7 . 2 . 1987 , p . 31 .                            communications in the European Community ;
 ---pagebreak--- 8 . 1 . 93                             Official Journal of the European Communities                                No C 4 / 5
Whereas real, comparable access to the third country             3 . Member States shall also take all appropriate
markets for European manufacturers should preferably             measures to ensure that satellite earth station equipment
be achieved through multilateral negotiations within             which is capable of, but not intended for, connection to
GATT, although bilateral talks between the Community             the public telecommunications network, is not permitted
and third countries may also contribute to this process ;        to be connected to the public telecommunications
                                                                 network.
Whereas representatives of the telecommunication                 4 . Member States shall also take all appropriate
organizations, users, consumers, manufacturers, service          measures to ensure that satellite earth station equipment
providers and the trade unions should have the right to          which is capable of, but not intended for, connection to
be consulted ;                                                   the public telecommunications network, is disconnected
                                                                 from the public telecommunications network if such
Whereas the addressees of any decision taken pursuant            equipment is not used for its intended purpose.
to this Directive must be informed of the reasons for
                                                                 Member States shall moreover take all appropriate
such a decision and the means of appeal open to them,            measures, according to their national laws, to prevent
                                                                 connection to the public telecommunications network of
HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE :                                     such equipment if it is not used in conformity with its
                                                                 intended purpose.
                         CHAPTER I                                                         Article 3
     Scope, placing on the market and free circulation           1.    Satellite earth station equipment shall satisfy the
                            Article 1                            same essential requirements as those set out in Article 4
                                                                 of Directive 91 / 263 / EEC .
1 . This Directive shall apply to satellite earth station
equipment, as defined in paragraph 2 .                           2 . Notwithstanding paragraph 1 , satellite earth station
                                                                 equipment which is not capable of, or wich is capable of
                                                                 but not intended for, connection to the public telecom­
2.      For the purpose of this Directive :                      munications network shall not be required to satisfy the
                                                                 essential requirements set out in Articles 4 (b), (d), (f)
— the definitions given in Directive 9 1 /263 /EEC shall         and (g) of Directive 91 /263 / EEC.
      apply, where relevant,
                                                                 3.    In the context of transmit-receive satellite earth
— 'satellite earth station equipment' means equipment            station equipment, the essential requirement set out in
     which is capable of being used either for transmission      Article 4 (e) of Directive 91 /263/EEC concerning
      and reception ('transmit-receive'), or for reception       effective use of the radio frequency spectrum, shall
      only ('receive-only'), of radiocommunication signals       include the effective use of orbital resources and the
      by means of satellites or other space-based systems ;      avoidance of harmful interference between space-based
      but excluding purpose-built satellite earth station        and terrestrial communications systems and other
      equipment used within the context of the public tele­      technical systems .
      communications network infrastructure of a Member
                                                                 4.    In the context of satellite earth station equipment,
      State .
                                                                 electromagnetic compatibility requirements in so far as
                                                                 they are specific to satellite earth station equipment shall
3 . The manufacturer or supplier of satellite earth              be subject to the essential requirement set out in Article 4
station equipment shall declare whether or not the               (c) of Directive 91 /263 /EEC concerning electromagnetic
equipment is intended for connection to the public tele­         compatibility.
communications network.
                                                                 5 . Satellite earth station equipment shall satisfy the
                                                                 essential requirements set out in Article 4 (g) of Directive
                            Article 2                            91 /263 /EEC , regarding the interworking of satellite
                                                                 earth station equipment with the public telecommuni­
1.      Member States shall ensure that satellite earth          cations network, in justified cases.
station equipment not capable of, nor intended for,
connection to the public telecommunications network              Cases where satellite earth station equipment is capable,
and to be used for the reception-only of radiocommuni­           and intended, to support a service for which the Council
cation signals, which complies with the requirements of          has decided that there should be Community-wide avail­
this Directive and is properly installed and maintained          ability, are considered as justified cases and the
and used for its intended purposes, may be placed on the         requirements concerning this interworking are
market and circulate freely and used on their territory.         determined in accordance with the procedure provided
                                                                 for in Article 14 .
2.      Member States shall ensure that other satellite earth                              Article 4
station equipment, which complies with the requirements
of this Directive and is properly installed and maintained       1 . Member States shall presume compliance with the
and used for its intended purposes, may be placed on the         essential requirements referred to in Article 4 (a) and (b)
market and circulate freely on their territory.                  of Directive 91 /263 /EEC in respect of satellite earth
 ---pagebreak---    No C 4 /6                              Official Journal of the European Communities                                   8 . 1 . 93
   station equipment which is in conformity with the                                           Article 8
   national standards implementing the relevant harmonized
   standards, the references of which have been published            Receive-only satellite earth station equipment, which is
   in the Official Journal of the European Communities.              capable of and intended for terrestrial connection to the
   Member States shall publish the references of such                public telecommunications network shall, as far as its
  national standards .                                               terrestrial interface is concerned, be subject to all
                                                                     provisions of Directive 91 /263 /EEC ; as far as other
  2.     The Commission shall, in accordance with the                elements are concerned, they shall be subject to EC
  procedures set out in Article 6 (2) of Directive                   internal production control procedures as set out in the
  91 /263/EEC and Article 14 of this Directive, adopt                Annex .
  common technical regulations for satellite earth station
  equipment in relation to the essential requirements                                          Article 9
  referred to in Article 3 of this Directive.
                                                                     Receive-only satellite earth station equipment which is
                             Article 5                               either not capable of, or is capable of but not intended
                                                                     for, connection to the public telecommunications
  Where a Member State or the Commission considers                  network, shall be subject to the EC internal production
  that the common technical regulations referred to in              control procedures set out in the Annex.
  Article 4 of this Directive exceed or do not entirely meet
  the relevant essential requirements referred to in Article                                  Article 10
  3 of this Directive, the same enquiry and notification
 procedures shall apply as those set out in Article 7 of            In addition to the provisions of Articles 7, 8 and 9,
  Directive 91 / 263 / EEC .                                        satellite earth station equipment which is capable of, but
                                                                    not intended for, connection to the public telecommuni­
                             Article 6                              cations network shall be accompanied by a manu­
  1.     Where a Member State finds that satellite earth
                                                                    facturer's or supplier's declaration made and transmitted
                                                                    in accordance with the same procedures as those set out
 station equipment bearing the markings under the                   in    Article   2  of,  and    Annex    VIII to   Directive
 provisions laid down in Chapter III does not comply                91 /263 / EEC, except that the declaration shall make a
 with the relevant essential requirements when properly             reference     to  this   Directive   instead of   Directive
 used in accordance with the purpose intended by the                91 / 263 / EEC .
 manufacturer, the same notification and consultation
 procedures shall apply as those set out in Article 8 ( 1 ),                                  Article 11
 (2) and (4) of Directive 91 / 263 / EEC.
                                                                    In relation to satellite earth station equipment, the same
 2 . Where satellite earth station equipment which does             procedures for notified bodies and test laboratories shall
 not comply with the relevant essential requirements bears          apply as those set out in Articles 10 and 16 (2) of, and
 the EC mark, the competent Member State shall take                Annex V to Directive 91 /263 /EEC .
 appropriate action against whomsoever has affixed the
 mark. The same notification procedures shall apply as
 those set out in Article 8 (3) and (4) of Directive                                        CHAPTER III
 91 / 263 / EEC .
                                                                              EC mark of conformity and inscriptions
                          CHAPTER II                                                          Article 12
                     Conformity assessment                          1.    The marking of satellite earth station equipment
                                                                   complying with this Directive shall consist of the EC
                             Article 7
                                                                   mark consisting of the symbol 'CE', followed by the
All transmit/receive satellite earth station equipment,            identifying symbol of the notified body responsible and,
irrespective of whether it is capable of or intended for           where relevant, a symbol indicating that the equipment is
connection to the public telecommunications network,               intended and is suitable to be connected to the public
                                                                   telecommunications network. The EC mark and these
shall, according to the choice of the manufacturer or his
authorized representative established within the                   two symbols shall be the same as those shown in Annex
                                                                   VI to Directive 91 /263 /EEC .
Community, be subject to
either :    EC type examination as described in Annex I to         2 . The affixing of marks which are likely to be
            Directive 91 /263 /EEC together with EC                confused with the marks of conformity referred to above
            declaration of conformity to type as described         shall be prohibited .
            in Annex II to Directive 91 /263 /EEC,
or :        EC type examination as described in Annex I to         3 . Satellite earth station equipment shall be identified
            Directive 91 /263 / EEC together with EC               by the manufacturer by means of type, batch and/or
            production quality assurance as described in           serial numbers and by the name of the manufacturer
            Annex III to Directive 91 / 263 / EEC .                and/or supplier responsible for placing it on the market.
The same procedures regarding language requirements                4. Equipment manufacturers or suppliers who place
shall apply as those set out in Article 9 (3) of Directive         on the market satellite earth station equipment which is
91 / 263 / EEC .                                                   capable of, but not intended for, connection to the
 ---pagebreak---  8 . 1 . 93                                  Official Journal of the European Communities                                    No C 4 / 7
public telecommunications network shall affix the same                     The Commission shall take the utmost account of the
symbol as that specified in Annex VII to Directive                         opinion delivered by the Committee. The Commission
91 /263/EEC, in such a way that it follows the EC mark                     shall inform the Committee of the manner in which its
and visually forms an integral part of the total marking.                  opinion has been taken into account.
                              Article 13                                   3 . The Commission will periodically consult the re­
                                                                           presentatives of the telecommunications organizations,
Where it is established that the marking referred to in                    the users , the consumers , the manufacturers, the service
Article 12 ( 1 ) of this Directive has been affixed to                     providers and trade unions and will inform the
satellite earth station equipment which :                                  Committee on the outcome of such consultations, with a
                                                                           view to taking due account of the outcome .
— does not conform to an approved type, or
— conforms to an approved type which does not meet                                                    CHAPTER V
      the essential requirements applicable to it,
                                                                                          Final and transitional provisions
or, where the manufacturer has failed to fulfil his obli­                                              Article 15
gations under the relevant EC declaration of conformity,
                                                                          The Commission shall report on the implementation of
                                                                           this Directive, in accordance with the same procedures as
                            CHAPTER IV                                     those set out in Article 15 of Directive 91 /263 /EEC .
                             Committee
                                                                                                       Article 16
                              Article 14                                   1 . Member States shall take the measures necessary to
1 . The Approvals Committee for Terminal Equipment                        comply with this Directive not later than .... They shall
                                                                          forthwith inform the Commission thereof.
(hereinafter referred to as 'the Committee') established
by Article 13 ( 1 ) of Directive 91 /263 /EEC shall assist                When Member States adopt these measures, they shall
the Commission in executing this Directive as follows .                   contain a reference to this Directive or shall be accom­
                                                                          panied by such reference on the occasion of their official
2.       The representative of the Commission shall submit                publication. The methods of making such a reference
to the Committee a draft of the measure to be taken .
                                                                          shall be laid down by the Member States .
The Committee shall deliver its opinion on the draft,
within a time limit which the chairman may lay down                       2.     Member States shall inform the Commission of the
according to the urgency of the matter, if necessary by                   main provisions of domestic law which they adopt in the
taking a vote.                                                            field governed by this Directive.
The opinion shall be recorded in the minutes ; in                                                      Article 17
addition, each Member State shall have the right to ask
to have its position recorded in the minutes.                             This Directive is addressed to the Member States .
                                                                   ANNEX
                                       EC INTERNAL PRODUCTION CONTROL PROCEDURE
                1 . This Annex describes the procedure whereby the manufacturer or his authorized representative estab­
                    lished within the Community, who carries out the obligations laid down in point 2, ensures and declares
                    that the products concerned satisfy the requirements of the directive that apply to them.
                    The manufacturer shall affix the CE mark to each product and draw up a written declaration of
                    conformity.
               2. The manufacturer shall establish the technical documentation described in point 3 and he or his auth­
                    orized representative established with the Community shall keep it for a period ending at least 10 years
                    after the last product has been manufactured at the disposal of relevant national authorities for
                    inspection purposes .
 ---pagebreak--- No C 4 / 8                               Official Journal of the European Communities                                      8 . 1 . 93
               Where neither the manufacturer nor his authorized representative is established within the Community,
               the obligation to keep the technical documentation available shall be the responsibility of the person
               who places the product on the Community market.
           3 . Technical documentation shall enable the conformity of the products with the requirements of the
               directive that apply to the products. It shall contain so far as relevant for assessment :
               — a general description of the product,
               — conceptual design and manufacturing drawings and schemes of components, sub-assemblies, circuits,
                   etc .,
               — descriptions and explanations necessary for the understanding of said drawings and schemes and the
                   operation of the product,
               — a list of the standards applied in full or in part, and descriptions of the solutions adopted to meet the
                   requirements of the directive that apply to the products,
               — results of design calculations made, examinations carried out, etc.,
               — test reports .
           4. The manufacturer or his authorized representative shall keep a copy of the declaration of conformity
               with the technical documentation .
           5 . The manufacturer shall take all measures necessary in order that the manufacturing process shall ensure
               compliance of the manufactured products with the technical documentation referred to in point 2 and
               with the requirements of the directive that apply to them.
                                                           CORRIGENDA
           Corrigendum to the Commission communication pursuant to Article 2 of Council Regulation (EEC)
                                                 No 0000/92 of 21 December 1992
                          (OfficialJournal of the European Communities No C 347 of 31 December 1992)
                                                              (93 / C 4/04)
           The title in the contents and on page 3 should read as follows :
              'Commission communication pursuant to Article 2 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 3917/92 of
              21 December 1992'.
           Footnote (') on page 3 should read as follows :
              'O OT No L 396 , 31.12 . 1992 , p. 1 .'