Editor’s Note: The Radio Equipment Directive (RED), 2014/53/EU, must be used for new products manufactured after June 13, 2016 and becomes mandatory for all products June 13, 2017.
Abstract
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 at 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.
Some key points for manufacturers under RED:
- The CE marking must appear on the device and on the packaging – the RED no longer requires CE mark to be in the user manual
- The Notified Body number only goes on the product when the Full Quality Assurance route (R&TTE annex V / RED annex IV) and is not used where a NB has just reviewed the technical file.
- The list of permitted countries should still go on the packaging and the user manual but there is no requirement for the alert mark,
, for class 2 equipment and country notifications are no longer required. - The user manual must include frequency bands of operation and the maximum transmit power in each of those bands and this information must be in a language easily understood by the end user.
- Any product containing a piece of “radio equipment” as defined in RED Article 2, falls under the RED – so a washing machine with a Zigbee radio falls under RED and not EMC and LVD.
Developments of new standards for RED
EMC
The radio equipment does not allow application of the EMC Directive as was possible under the R&TTE, so all products containing radio equipment must be assessed against the Radio Equipment Directive.
- ETSI are developing guide EG 203 367 iii, “Electromagnetic compatibility and Radio spectrum Matters (ERM); Guide to the application of harmonized standards covering Articles 3.1b and 3.2 of the Directive 2014/53/EU (RE-D) to multi-radio and combined radio and non-radio equipment” which provides guidance on the application of Harmonised Standards to multi-radio and combined equipment. The document is still in a draft
- Examples of equipment to be covered by the document include, but are not limited to, combination of multiple radio products in one radio equipment, combination of radio and IT or electro-technical equipment, RLAN enabled domestic appliance, radio controlled heating system, radio controlled lighting system, etc.
Radio Spectrum
- ETSI are currently updating 156 article 3.2 radio spectrum standards for the RED, 34 of these are due for publication in the Official Journal during 2016 with the majority of the remainder following in 1st half of 2017.
- Following a review of compatibility between LTE operating in the 800 MHz band and UHF Short-Range Devices, ETSI has started work on the restructuring of EN 300 220. Work items have been adopted as follows:
- EN 300 220-2: Harmonised Standard for non-specific radio equipment. Two versions are being developed: a version 3.1.1 with “category 3” receivers, intended to be replaced by v 3.2.1 with improved “category 2” receivers by December 2018.
- EN 300 220-3-1: Social Alarms equipment operating in the designated frequency band (869.2 – 869.25 MHz)
- EN 300 220-3-2: Wireless Alarms equipment operating in the designated frequency bands
- EN 300 220-4: Metering radio equipment operating on designated frequency bands (169.4 – 169.4875 MHz)
- ETSI has already published draft standards for TV and Broadcast receivers that are moving into RED due to the change in scope of this directive:
- Draft ETSI EN 303 340 V1.1.0v, Digital Terrestrial TV Broadcast Receivers; Harmonised Standard covering the essential requirements of article 3.2 of the Directive 2014/53/EU
- Draft ETSI EN 303 345 V1.1.0vi, Radio Broadcast Receivers; Harmonised Standard covering the essential requirements of article 3.2 of the Directive 2014/53/EU
Transition periods
In common with normal practise, there will be a transition period during which time existing standards may continue to be used, but manufacturers should keep an eye on the ETSI work program iv and keep up to date with standards as they are published.
References
- http://ec.europa.eu/DocsRoom/documents/11983/attachments/1/translations/en/renditions/pdf
- http://ec.europa.eu/DocsRoom/?locale=en i
- https://portal.etsi.org/webapp/WorkProgram/Report_WorkItem.asp?WKI_ID=47231
- http://webapp.etsi.org/ena/cvp.asp?search=RADIO
- https://www.etsi.org/deliver/etsi_en/303300_303399/303340/01.01.00_20/en_303340v010100a.pdf
- https://www.etsi.org/deliver/etsi_en/303300_303399/303345/01.01.00_20/en_303345v010100a.pdf
