From: "Nick Evans" <[email protected]> Subject: RE: CTR21 Approval?
Two pennies worth. I agree with Ben. Certain countries are restricted by their national implementations of the TTE directive such that they can only grant pan-European type approvals against published CTRs. Other countries, most notably the Netherlands, are able to grant approvals on the basis that an agreed pan-European, harmonised standard is available (which TBR21 now is). I was also surprised by TUVPS' announcement as we have also been speaking to BABT and have been told (as before in these kind of situations) that BABT is constrained by UK legislation and that they cannot issue pan-European approvals until the CTR is published in the OJ. The main obstacle to a pan-European type approval currently is finding a notified body which will grant the approval and allow you to use their notified body number. Actually, this seems to not be too much of a problem as it would appear possible to gain your pan-European CTR 21 approval via the Netherlands for example and then affix the CE mark, crossed hockey sticks and notified body number to your product. In the past when we have been in this kind of transition period between a TBR being accepted and publication of the CTR in the official journal, countries not able to issue pan-European approvals have not generally objected to products approved in other member states being placed on the market. This has just been a matter of practicality. CE marked products are required to enjoy free movement throughout the EU/EEA. A country constrained to wait until the CTR is published could in theory make a complaint about other authorities issuing approvals in advance but it would be pointless and the inevitability of the CTR being published within 2 or 3 months just adds to it. Commercially, it is just unfortunate (for them) that certain authorities are legally constrained to wait. The unique problem with TBR21 is that compliance with the TBR/CTR may not be enough to place your product on the market in certain member states depending on the features offered by your product. For example, we know currently that the Netherlands, although willing to issue a CTR 21 approval require additional national testing and type approval if your product provides a series connection facility or caller ID detection, etc. It is very unclear at the moment as to what all of the countries which previously had not been using TBR21 will now do for requirements such as these and pulse dialling. It could be, for example, that if you get your pan-European approval through the Netherlands, apply the CE mark, etc and then try to place the product on the market in Spain that the product may not be compliant with specific Spanish national regulations for features excluded from TBR21. Spain is just an example, we don't know yet what the Spanish situation will be. Practically, the way forward has to be to design and seek a pan-European type approval against TBR21. If you have products requiring approved now, you will be limited in the choice of authorities which will issue the pan-European approval. If your product provides additional features not covered by TBR21, then you will have to get additional national approvals in those countries which have currently defined these. For those countries, which have not previously used TBR21, then there is a business decision to be made based on risk. You could choose to try and ship on the basis of the pan-European approval alone. This may be risky if in two months time we find that a particular country does have specific national regulations for additional features and you have shipped 10,000 products which do not comply with these! Alternatively, you could discuss carefully with the authorities in these countries what they are prepared to accept currently and what they are planning to do in the near future and try to establish an agreed route through. The latter is possibly the most sensible but given the fact that a number of manufacturers, consultants, etc are trying to do the same thing and we are entering the August vacation period, a satisfying answer may not be that easy to achieve quickly in all cases. Being one of those consultants clogging up fax and telephone lines currently, any more information we get from national authorities over the coming days & weeks I will post to TREG. Best regards Nick Evans Managing Director Genesys IBS Ltd Worldwide IT&T Product Design & Compliance Tel: +44 1600 710300 Fax: +44 1600 710301 Mobile: +44 385 367348 (GSM) E-mail: [email protected] (if sending attachments, please copy e-mail to our central e-mail account: [email protected]) For Worldwide Telecom Approvals - Web: Http://www.gentel.co.uk/genesys -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Neldel, Philipp Sent: 28 July 1998 11:35 To: '[email protected]' Subject: RE: CTR21 Approval? Treggers, Having read the mail chains on TBR21/CTR21 and hopefully understood the last comments made by Ben, what is the practical implication for a manufacturer? If the Dutch law allows the Dutch notified body to issue CTR 21 approval, would there be any legal means for the UK to object to CE marked equipment being sold and connected in the UK? In other words, if a manufacturer finds a notified body in the EU to issue a certificate based on CTR 21 (just because national law doesn't conflict), what could prevent the manufacturer from shipping in all member states? Philipp Neldel, Engineering, Communcation Products Group, Compaq Computer EMEA BV, Einsteinring 30, D-85609 Dornach, Germany Phone: +49 89 9392 2344, Fax: +49 89 9392 2342 PLEASE NOTE NEW NUMBER AS OF JULY 12 mail: [email protected] > -----Original Message----- > From: Ben Wrigley [SMTP:[email protected]] > Sent: Tuesday, July 28, 1998 3:20 AM > To: [email protected] > Subject: CTR21 Approval? > > ---------- Original message from Victor L. Boersma ---------- > > > > Treggers > > > > > > CTR 21 passed the European Council vote on 20 July, and was notified > > > on 21 June to all National Member States. > > > > > > This means that CTR21 Pan-European approvals can now be issued. > > > > > > I know that BABT have already said that they will now issue approvals > to > > > CTR21 and convert existing TBR21 (fully compliant) national approvals > on > > > request.. > > > > > > regards > > > > > > Andrea Bishop > > > > Andrea, > > > > I am not quite sure how it works, but it seems to me that I remember > that > > any decision by the European Commission needs to be transposed into > > national regulation in the member states, or something to that effect, > > before it takes effect. Seems to me that the member states will need a > > couple of days (weeks ... months ....) to do that and that the effective > > date even from a Council perspective cannot be the date when ACTS or > some > > body of that ilk agreed to the CTR. It may well be that some > > organizations are willing to let you use their Notified Body number and > > the CE marking as soon as they have satisfied themselves that indeed > your > > gadget meets all the applicable requirements. However, a member state > > that has not yet transposed that new agreement into national regulation, > > may not want to accept that before they have to. Question is, by what > > date do the member states have to implement CTR21 ??? > > > > By the way, something went screwy with your dates as you have the member > > states notified before the Council made its determination. > > > > Ciao, > > > > Vic Boersma > > Vic, Andrea > > A few things to clarify first: > > [1] CTR21 does not actually exist yet. The European Council have adopted > TBR21 which means that is is now effectively a harmonized standard. It > will > not be a CTR until the relevant European Commission decision is published > in the OJ. Member states will have to implement a CTR within 12 months > (usually) of the decision (which usually happens several weeks before OJ > publication). OJ publication is expected around September time. > > [2] Many members states cannot (legally) grant CE approvals using TBR21 > until the CTR21 OJ publication takes place. This is to do with how the > terminal equipment Directive is implemented into the national law of the > member state. In some member states (like the UK for example) the law > specifically refers to CTRs being used as the basis for approval. The laws > of > other member states (such as The Netherlands) do not refer to CTR's but to > > Harmonized Standards, and whilst a CTR is a harmonized standard, a > harmonized standard is not necessarily a CTR as is the case with TBR21 at > the moment. > > Andrea's announcement surprises me since I have heard from at least two > manufacturer's in the last week with national UK TBR21 approval who claim > to have approached BABT (in at least one case BABT Product Service) and > were told that BABT could not grant CE approval until the CTR21 > Commission Decision appeared in the OJ, I guess because of the UK law. > > Regardless of all of this, Vic's comments do provide a cautionary word of > warning. There may be member states who make things difficult for > manufacturers during periods of transition and beyond. Furthermore there > may be other implications (like pulse dialling or caller ID) which do not > fall > within the scope of TBR21 but do fall within the scope of other national > standards meaning that in some cases CTR21 CE approval and various > national approvals may be required. > > Regards > > ------------------------------ > > Ben Wrigley > Senior Approvals Specialist > > KTL > Saxon Way > Priory Park West > Hull > HU13 9PB > UK > > Phone: +44 (0)1482 801801 > Fax: +44 (0)1482 801806 > Mobile: +44 (0)802 280914 > Web: http://www.ktl.co.uk > Email: mailto:[email protected]
