Doug Beckwith <[email protected]> wrote (in <[email protected]>) about 'In-house test equipment', on Tue, 30 Aug 2005:
>My previous employers all had subsidiaries/factories in Europe, and the >transfer of custom built test equipment across the pond was >commonplace. The key with the EU legislation is the words "offered for >sale". If the equipment is not going to be sold then as long as the >shipping papaerwork indicates that it is from xyz company to the same >xyz company (UK) then there is no issue at customs. We certainly never >had any issues. It's actually not 'offered for sale' that is the critical issue, because even if it's not offered for sale, it IS 'taken into service'. The weasel phrase here that was probably invoked to allow your equipment into the EU is 'This equipment is not for free circulation within the EU.' This phrase should appear on the shipping documents but there is no guarantee that customs in all EU countries will accept it. In particular, **once the equipment has entered the EU, it is not allowed to cross an internal national border, because that would be 'free circulation'**. This is a very grey area, which has arisen because there was no proper provision for unique special-purpose products, like factory test equipment, in the Directive. The new Directive is a bit better in this respect. > >One thing you should be careful of is the fact that the local power >utility may require evidence of compliance to the relevant safety >standard for the equipment, or may require some kind of inspection >before you plug it in. It's not the power utility (at least in UK) but Health and Safety officials. -- Regards, John Woodgate, OOO - Own Opinions Only. Deadlines are 90% of deadliness. http://www.jmwa.demon.co.uk Also see http://www.isce.org.uk This message is from the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society emc-pstc discussion list. Website: http://www.ieee-pses.org/ To post a message to the list, send your e-mail to [email protected] Instructions: http://listserv.ieee.org/listserv/request/user-guide.html List rules: http://www.ieee-pses.org/listrules.html For help, send mail to the list administrators: Scott Douglas [email protected] Mike Cantwell [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.ieeecommunities.org/emc-pstc
