Ed, All, DEF STAN 59-41 has been/ is being revised to DEF STAN 59-411- It is intended to publish DEF STAN 59-411 in the late autumn of 2006, Part 3 Issue 1 Draft was to be posted on the DStan website ( <http://www.dstan.dii.r.mil.uk/> http://www.dstan.dii.r.mil.uk/) for general public comment around August. Regards Tim
_____ From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Price, Ed Sent: 17 October 2006 02:07 To: IEEE EMC Discussion Group Subject: RE: CE Marking for Military equipment *** WARNING *** This mail has originated outside your organization, either from an external partner or the Global Internet. Keep this in mind if you answer this message. From: Doug Beckwith [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Monday, October 16, 2006 12:23 PM To: [email protected] Subject: CE Marking for Military equipment Hi All, Can anyone provide some information or a pointer to some information on CE marking of Military equipment. We have a product that is going to be sold in the EU, and it is used by both Military and police forces. The question has come up regarding the CE marking requirement. Regards Doug Beckwith The problem starts from the fact that the military buys as if it is an "expert customer", that is, they use a contract system to specify every detail of performance and reliability. The contractual relationship takes precedence over any standard or practice, so the thinking goes that "if it isn't in the contract, it's not applicable." Equipment bought commercially off-the-shelf imposes considerable usage restrictions on the military (because the military operational environment is so harsh), so you have to be very careful about integrating COTS into that environment. For instance, commercial hiking boots might be really nice, but what about their resistance to jungle rot and sole penetration, and what about the infrared signature of the material? Asking for military gear to also be CE is interesting, as there isn't any Military Directive. <g> OTOH, the customer can ask for anything, and they can contractually try to invoke it. If your contract invokes DEF STAN 59-41, and then says that the equipment should also be in compliance with any relevant civilian standards for the country of use, then you just may have to provide evidence that the product meets the intent of the Low-voltage, EMC, Machinery, pressure vessel, radhaz, etc directives. The amount of risk involved is hard to predict. The least stringent military standard levels are often much more rigorous than the equivalent commercial requirements. OTOH, there are some commercial tests that are not required by the military, so asking for CE does pose some additional engineering risk. Much could be simplified if the extant military standards better addressed COTS procurement. In the USA, our MIL-STD-461E barely addresses COTS; perhaps this will change with the upcoming Revision F. The British MoD now does a better job with their DEF STAN 59-41, Part 3, Section 2, which addresses military use in a civilian environment. Still, here's a fun quote from that document: The procedures and limits outlined within this Section produce tests which are generally more stringent than those evoked by the European Directive 89/336/EEC. These reflect the harsher environment in which military support equipment will operate. It is not permissible or acceptable to compare or cross reference test results from Euro Norms or Commercial Specifications with the procedures and limits contained within this Section. This quote seems to be saying that there may be no COTS, because even the military support environment is harsher than the civilian environment. But it's only sane that we admit that the military has a large percentage of "civilian office environment" usage. The photocopier and the coffee maker in the Colonel's office shouldn't need to be a single bit different than civilian quality. Of course, if you sell commercially in the EU, even if it's only to municipal agencies (like police or fire or paramedics), then you definitely have to meet the civilian requirements. Regards, Ed Price [email protected] NARTE Certified EMC Engineer & Technician Electromagnetic Compatibility Lab Cubic Defense Applications San Diego, CA USA 858-505-2780 (Voice) 858-505-1583 (FAX) Military & Avionics EMC Is Our Specialty - ---------------------------------------------------------------- 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/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: Jim Bacher: [email protected] David Heald: [email protected] All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: http://www.ieeecommunities.org/emc-pstc ______________________________________________________________________ This email has been scanned by the MessageLabs Email Security System. For more information please visit http://www.messagelabs.com/email ______________________________________________________________________ ******************************************************************** This email and any attachments are confidential to the intended recipient and may also be privileged. If you are not the intended recipient please delete it from your system and notify the sender. You should not copy it or use it for any purpose nor disclose or distribute its contents to any other person. ******************************************************************** - ---------------------------------------------------------------- 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/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: Jim Bacher: [email protected] David Heald: [email protected] All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: http://www.ieeecommunities.org/emc-pstc
