Hi Group, John etc. The R&TTE has provision Network Access "essential requirements" (for wired products) to be added if the commission find a need. Currently, there are no requirements except for those added to cover France Telecom. Parts of the French POTs network use old technology where certain transformers (possibly A type relays) become saturated and thus will not pass any audio if the line current drawn exceeds 60mA. For an interim period, the commission have included the Line feeding tests (60mA current limit) from TBR21 as an applicable, essential requirement for France. There is a withdrawal date for this requirement so it to will soon vanish. I agree with John, many sales chains are unhappy taking product with no network access test results, we therefore choose to voluntarily apply the TBR standards as a means of demonstrating compliance with the former, applied essential requirements to show to any interested parties. This testing can of course be of further benefit, as many reports can be used in other countries to support an overseas approval application. This is particulalry true of more modern technologies like ISDN BRI and PRI, ONP etc. A good example of this is TBR3 which is widely accepted as the Euro / CEPT ISDN test standard. Investigate the standards you apply as part of any "One stop" multi-country approvals strategy. I also agree that other, design standards may be applied. The directive calls for all PTOs to provide a list of interface specifications for the ports available on their networks. Many PTOs are quoting earlier national specification for this purpose (I see some BS specs on the BT site) and many refer to the NETs and TBRs from previous years. Do not forget that Wireless interfaces do still have connection requirements under the directive, where possible these are harmonised (ETSI) but due to deviation in frequency allocations and terrain, many remain based on National standards. This is only a brief answer, obviously there is a lot more content in the actual body of the directive. This should be essential (but not bed time) reading for this subject! the 99/5/EC directive can be downloaded from our favourite EUROPA server. Hope this helps. Best regards Bill Ellingford Approvals & Conformance manager Motion Media Technology Ltd
-----Original Message----- From: j...@aol.com [mailto:j...@aol.com] Sent: 08 May 2002 17:06 To: jjuh...@fiberoptions.com Cc: emc-p...@majordomo.ieee.org Subject: Re: R&TTE Directive In a message dated 5/8/2002, John Juhasz writes: it appears that it is not required to test the interface itself to 'telecom specs' such as those in the CTR21. Hi John: Your interpretation is correct. For wireline POTS products/interfaces, the only requirements that apply under the RTTE directive are safety and EMC. There are no regulatory requirements whatsoever for the type of specifications called out in CTR 21. CTR 21 ceased to be a regulatory requirement when the RTTE directive came into force on April 8, 2000. That being said, many manufacturers are uncomfortable with having no regulatory requirements for telecom. One option is to continue voluntary testing to CTR 21. Another option is to obtain the individual "reference" standards that the RTTE directive requires each operator of a public network to publish. Most of the major operators have posted these on their web sites. A third option is to review CTR 21 and the relevant "reference" specifications, then use engineering judgment to design and test your interface. This is the preferred approach if you are seeking minimum cost and/or maximum compatibility with the various national networks. The bottom line is that the telecom aspects of your product performance are now a matter between you and your customer, rather than between you and the regulators. Joe Randolph Telecom Design Consultant Randolph Telecom, Inc. 781-721-2848 http://www.randolph-telecom.com *
