Hello all. For products destined for the US market, industrial control equipment manufacturers can sometimes take advantage of the exemption clause of section 15.103 of the Part 15 rules, which states that "The following devices are subject only to the general conditions of operation ... and are exempt from the specific technical standards ... (b) A digital device used exclusively as an electronic control or power system utilised by a public utility or in an industrial plant." There are other exemptions, which might have changed since my copy of the requirements was printed. (Someone at the FCC told me that manufacturers have taken this exemption more often than they should, and for equipment that does not really qualify, but that The Commission has insufficient resources to police it closely, and that the impact of a crack-down on industrial equipment claiming exemption but which should not really be exempt would be too unpopular to be considered!)
I have heard a rumour that a similar exemption is permitted in the European marketplace, with a newly-introduced exemption for dedicated industrial control equipment. Is this part of EN61131, the programmable controller standard? Or is it something else? Or is it just wishful thinking on my part? Jonathan Malton S-S Technologies, Inc., Kitchener, Ontario. (... but my opinions are my own, not those of my employer!)
