Well, this series sure took a left turn and accelerated hurriedly out of site of the original intent which was to determine what the term "consumer" means as used in the GPSD. The imaginary product example I put forth was intended solely to support the question, and I in no way advocated that such a product be placed upon the market without the proper safety analysis.
Now, back to the original question. I found the following definition of professional apparatus in EN 55103-2 (immunity for professional A/V equipment): "Apparatus intended for use in trades, professions or industries and which is not intended for sale to the general public." The scope of the standard says that the standard does not apply to "consumer apparatus". So, it seems that the CENELEC authors of this standard are of the opinion that there is a difference between professional and consumer apparatus. If the authors are correct, the professional equipment I described is not included within the scope of the GPSD. If that is true, what safety related Directive, if any, applies? The only one I could find is the Liability Directive, 85/374/EEC. The closest that document comes to having an essential requirement is that "Lack of safety which the general public is entitled to expect determines the defectiveness of a product." Could it be that the regulation of safety of these types of products are the responsibility of the member states and governed by national worker safety regulations? Seems weird that there is a gap in the harmonization process for these types of products. Richard Woods Sensormatic Electronics Tyco International > -----Original Message----- > From: WOODS, RICHARD > Sent: Thursday, April 25, 2002 1:28 PM > To: 'emc-pstc' > Subject: General Product Safety Directive > > Let's take an example of a non-rechargable 9V battery operated ITE product > intended soley for business use; and due to its nature, it is highly > unlikely to be used by laymen outside that business environment (i.e., not > in the home). That product is not subject to the LVD, but it might be > subject to the GPSD depending upon scope of the term "consumer". The GPSD > uses the word "consumer" without defining the term. What is the legal > meaning and scope of that term in the EU? Comments? > > Richard Woods > Sensormatic Electronics > Tyco International > ------------------------------------------- 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: majord...@ieee.org with the single line: unsubscribe emc-pstc For help, send mail to the list administrators: Ron Pickard: emc-p...@hypercom.com Dave Heald: davehe...@attbi.com For policy questions, send mail to: Richard Nute: ri...@ieee.org Jim Bacher: j.bac...@ieee.org All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: http://ieeepstc.mindcruiser.com/ Click on "browse" and then "emc-pstc mailing list"
