From: [email protected] (Lars Poulsen) Subject: Re: CE MARK: Value-added?? I was out of the office for a couple of days, and since the time I typed this, I have read enough of what others replied to know that I'm mostly repeating what has already been said better by others, so feel free to disregard the following noise.
At 02:18 PM 4/3/97 EST, "Richard C. Towner" <[email protected]> wrote: >Do you think the PROCESS for the CE Mark is value-added? >My opinion is that it is NOT a value-added process, and presents an >obstacle as opposed to an improvement. Your question could benefit from translation into English. Are you asking about the regulatory process or the engineering process ? What is "a value-added process" ? (My accountants' answer would be that it is a process that adds costs so that you can justify jacking up the price!) 1) Regulatory process, proposed translation: Does the movement towards harmonized regulations in the European Union present mostly advantages or disadvantages to equipment manufacturers when compared to the earlier regime of country- by-country regulatory requirements, where the requirements of different countries were often in direct contradiction, so that there was no way to sell the same product into multiple countries ? How can you not be in favor of reducing insanity ? 2) Engineering process, proposed translation: Does the discipline imposed on design engineers by having to meet stringent requirements for electromagnetic compatibility result in better products ? In my experience, yes. Poorly designed boards are often noisy. Being forced to comply with EMC regulations has often led to better placement of components, which ultimately leads to higher reliability and better performance. Not every time, but often enough to be worthwhile. The regulatory regime embodied in CE marking did not arrive out of nowhere. The new rules are generally not stricter than what they replaced, but they are a lot clearer, and more likely to be fairly and uniformly enforced, thus leading to a more level competitive playing field. / Lars Poulsen [email protected] +1-805-562-3158 OSICOM Technologies (Internet Business Unit) (formerly RNS) 7402 Hollister Avenue Manager of Remote Access Engineering Goleta, CA 93117 Internets designed while you wait
