In a message dated 7/28/00, Allan Carr writes: > COMMISSION DECISION of 26 May 2000 > concerning the request by France to maintain pursuant to Article 18(3)of > Directive 1999/5/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (the > "R&TTE Directive") a requirement for telecommunications terminal > equipment intended for connection to the analogue public switched > telephone network of France Telecom (2000/373/EC) > > This requires limiting of the line current for TTE used in France. > > There are no other Harmonized PSTN Standards so you can self-declare > that you comply with all the applicable specifications under the R&TTE > Directive (which is NONE.!) unless you are selling into France.
Hi Allan: I have a slightly different interpretation of the Commission Decision that you reference. My interpretation is that the Commission specifically declined to require current limiting. Instead, they said that manufacturers must provide information to users about the intended use of the TE. TE without current limiting must contain a warning that it should not be used on lines that require current limiting. To me, this sounds like a political solution, where the Commission tried to appear sympathetic to France Telecom's request, but basically refused to impose current limiting for France. Thus, it appears to me that it is up to the manufacturer to decide whether to implement current limiting for France. I would not necessarily recommend that a manufacturer leave out current limiting, but it does appear to me that they have this option. There are some situations where exercising this option might make sense. For instance, if the manufacturer has an existing design that is otherwise compliant with EU requirements, and service personnel would be installing the equipment in only a few known locations, it might make sense for the manufacturer to confirm that the local phone lines do not require current limiting instead of undertaking a costly redesign to add current limiting. In France Telecom's filing with the Commission, they stated that 22% of their existing lines require current limiting, but that steps are underway to upgrade these lines. They also stated that this process would be completed within the maximum 30 month delay that the RTTE directive allows member states to request. My guess is that with the response that they got from the Commission, France Telecom may feel compelled to accelerate their retrofit program. Do you agree that manufacturers have the option to omit current limiting (with appropriate warnings), or have I misunderstood the Commission decision? Joe Randolph Telecom Design Consultant Randolph Telecom, Inc. http://www.randolph-telecom.com ------------------------------------------- This message is from the IEEE EMC Society Product Safety Technical Committee emc-pstc discussion list. To cancel your subscription, send mail to: [email protected] with the single line: unsubscribe emc-pstc For help, send mail to the list administrators: Jim Bacher: [email protected] Michael Garretson: [email protected] For policy questions, send mail to: Richard Nute: [email protected]
