Radio Equipment Directive

This article provides an update on changes occurring as a result of the new Radio Equipment Directive (RED) 2014/53/EU which can be used from June of 2016. It looks at the changes in the product and regulatory landscape and what it means to equipment manufacturers.

More detail on the history of the RED can be found in the article, Radio Equipment Directive, in the Interference Technology 2015 EMC Directory and Design Guide.

SCOPE OF THE DIRECTIVE

The scope of the RED has been widened to include:

• “Radio determination” equipment, such as radars and RFID devices. These devices were considered to be within the scope of the R&TTE Directive, but the RED’s scope is much clearer making it more obvious that they are included and must comply.
• “Sound and TV broadcast receivers” – these were excluded under R&TTE, so will now have additional requirements for radio spectrum performance.
•  “Receiver performance” – whilst this was covered in a number of ETSI product standards, its importance in an increasingly congested radio spectrum has made it part of the Directive.
•  “Devices operating below 9 kHz” – the lower frequency limit of R&TTE was 9 kHz, but that has been removed.
• In line with other directives there is a specific exclusion for “Custom-built evaluation kits destined for professionals to be used solely at research and development facilities for such purposes.”

TIMESCALES AND TRANSITION PERIODS

The European Commission has confirmed that there are four scenarios relating to the application of Directives 2014/53/EU, 2014/35/EU and 2014/30/EU i

It has been noted that following these dates could create a large administrative burden on manufacturers in updating documentation and Declarations of Conformity, particularly for devices that fall out of the R&TTE directive and into EMC and LVD as they cannot take advantage of the transition period written into the RED.

Guidance on content of Declarations of Conformity specifies minimum content, but does not generally specify maximum content and additional useful information is generally accepted. Based on this there is a couple of proposals currently under discussion within the commission to allow manufacturers to list both current and new directives on their Declarations of Conformity, e.g.

“The object of the declaration described above is in conformity with the relevant Union harmonisation legislation: Directive 1999/5/EC (until 12 June 2016), Directive 2014/30/EU (from 13 June 2016) and Directive 2014/35/EU (from 13 June 2016).”

Please note: at the time of publication this proposal had not been formally accepted. It is expected to be accepted early in March and will be published in the EU Docs Room ii. We will bring you an update as soon as we have it.