Some discussions relative to "CE" marking and the EU
Directives tend to overlook a key point. The European Union
Directives are "directed" not to manufacturers, but to the member
states of the EU, establishing requirements for products entering
the EU via their borders. This is simply because the governing
body of the EU only has authority over its own members. The
governing body has neither the mission nor resources to monitor
what enters the EU borders. This burden is placed on the member
states via the Directives.
The Directives themselves are often worded very generically, i.e.
"motherhood" and "apple pie". Take the Low Voltage Directive as
an example. It does not cite specific standards etc., but states
that the applicable products must be safe to humans and so on.
Various Directives such as those for "CE" marking, suggest means
by which EU members can evaluate in-coming products, such as
meeting specified standards.
This is why there are several paths by which manufacturers can
"prove" that their product(s) meets these generic requirements.
The most obvious and straightforward method is to test to an
established, harmonized, and IECEE recognized standard, e.g.
IEC 60950 for ITE. The "Technical Construction File" route via a
Notified Body can also be used, but can actually require more time
and effort than a third party CB assessment. Of course, for products
without harmonized and/or accepted standards, the TCF route may
be the only alternative.
George Alspaugh
-------------------------------------------
This message is from the IEEE EMC Society Product Safety
Technical Committee emc-pstc discussion list.
Visit our web site at: http://www.ewh.ieee.org/soc/emcs/pstc/
To cancel your subscription, send mail to:
[email protected]
with the single line:
unsubscribe emc-pstc
For help, send mail to the list administrators:
Michael Garretson: [email protected]
Dave Heald [email protected]
For policy questions, send mail to:
Richard Nute: [email protected]
Jim Bacher: [email protected]
All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at:
http://www.rcic.com/ click on "Virtual Conference Hall,"
