RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/IT/SPEC/Q1/9
22 April 1998
(98-1629)
Committee of Participants on the Expansion of Trade
in Information Technology ProductsOriginal:  English
REPLIES TO THE SURVEY
Communication from the European Commission
The following communication, dated 15 April 1998, has been received from the Permanent
Delegation of the European Commission.
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Further to your letter of 19 February 1998 to all Members of the Committee on the Expansion
of Trade in Information Technology Products, I am pleased to provide you with the attached
contribution from the European Community to the survey initiated by the Committee on
standards-related matters for information technology products.
This contribution consists of a main document containing a reply to the three questions listed
in document G/IT/4 of 19 February 1998 and two Annexes concerning respectively the "Guidelineson the application of Council Directive 73/23/EEC" (15 pages) and the "Guidelines on the application
of Council Directive 89/336/EEC" (61 pages)
1.
                                                     
1  The two Annexes are available for consultation in the Market Access Division (Ms. D. Wood,
Office 3142, Tel. 739 50 79) and also on the internet as indicated in this reply.G/IT/SPEC/Q1/9
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WTO Survey on standards-related matters for information technology products
1. Does your government have mandatory techni cal regulations to ensure the safety of
information technology equipment?  If so, plea se identify.  Are these requirements harmonized
with IEC 950?  If not, please explain the current practices.
(a) For ensuring safe IT products, the EC has adopted a series of mandatory rules
covering a wide range of equipment.
The Council Directive 73/23/EEC (so called  "Low Voltage Directive") on electrical
equipment designed for use within certain voltage limits (between 50 and 1000 V for
alternative current and between 50 and 1500 V for direct current) broadly applies to
consumer and capital goods, including both electrical equipment intended for
incorporation into other equipment and equipment intended to be used directly
without being incorporated.  This Directive covers all risks arising from the use of
electrical equipment, not just including electrical ones, but also mechanical, chemical,health aspects of noise and vibration and ergonomic aspects.  According to it,
electrical equipment within the meaning of the Directive may be placed on the market
only if, having been constructed in conformity with good engineering practice in
safety matters in force in the Community, it does not endanger the safety of persons,
domestic animals or property when properly installed and maintained and used inapplications for which it was made.  As far as those substantive safety requirements
are concerned, eleven objectives are mentioned an Annex 1 to the Directive, which
represent the essential safety requirements to be complied with.
In addition, the requirements relating to electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) aspects
of the IT equipment are harmonized with in the EC by Directive 89/336/EEC of
3 May 1989 (for details, see below, question 2).
Furthermore, telecommunications termin al equipment standards (harm to the
network, interworking  with the network, frequency use...) are harmonized in the EC
in accordance with Directive 91/263/EEC of 23 May 1991, which covers all terminal
equipment connected to a public telecom network.  A proposal for a new Directive iscurrently being discussed, which will apply both to radio and telecom equipment.
The EC will provide the WTO Secretariat with supplementary information regarding
these new regulations once the law-making-process has been completed.
(b) The standards related to the Directives on "Low Voltage" and electromagnetic
compatibility (EMC), aiming at safe IT products, are European "harmonizedstandards" produced by special committees (European Committee for
Electrotechnical Standardization, CENELEC and ETSI) operating at the European
level.  Most of such European harmonized standards are based in substance on
corresponding international standards established notably by the International
Electrotechnical Commission  (particularly the IEC 950 on Safety of information
technology equipment, including electrical business equipment).  Harmonized
standards falling under the aforesaid telecommunication terminal equipmentDirective are enhanced by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute
(ETSI), but these are generally derived from International Telecommunications
Union Standards (ITU).  Compliance with the safety objectives of the Directive, and
subsequent standards, which are henceforth identical for the whole European
Community, may imply, in some cases, compliance with different requirements fromone Member State to another to take account of different objective situations, e.g.
requirements resulting from supply systems which vary from one region of the
Community to another.G/IT/SPEC/Q1/9
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Harmonized standards are not mandatory.  Compliance with such standards however,
confer presumption of conformity with th e responding essential requirements of the
Directives applicable, which are the only mandatory requirements for marketing the
relevant products in the EU.  Manufacturers may chose not to apply harmonized
standards, provided that they demonstrate compliance with the essential requirements
of the Directives.
(c) More information on EC legislation as to safety requirements in the field of
electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) and electrical equipment designed for use
within certain voltage limits is av ailable in acrobat "pdf" format at
http:// www.cc.cec:8080/en/co mm/dgiii/public.htm.
2. Does your government have mandatory techni cal regulations to ensure electro-magnetic
interference of Information Technology equipment?  If so, please identify.  Are these
requirements harmonized with CISPR 22?  If not, please explain the current practice.
(a) The main objective of Directive 89/336/EEC of 3 May 1989 on the approximation of
the laws of the Member States relating to electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) is to
ensure that the electromagnetic disturbance produced by electrical and electronic
apparatus does not affect the correct functioning of other apparatus and that they have
an adequate level of intrinsic immunity to electromagnetic disturbances to enablethem to operate as intended.  To achieve these objectives, the EMC Directives lays
down protection requirements and procedures.  The procedures vary in the case of
apparatus for which the manufacturer has applied harmonized standards, where the
manufacturer has not applied the standards or only partly, and in the case of apparatus
designed for the transmission of radio-communication.
The details of these procedures and requirements are developed in the guidelines on
the application of the aforesaid Directive (more information available at
http:// www.cc.cec:8080/en/co mm/dgiii/public.htm).
(b) The European harmonized standards in the area covered by this EMC Directive,
which are adopted by the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization,(CENELEC or ETSI), are primarily based upon standards prepared by the
International Special Committee on Radio Interference (CISPR) of the International
Electrotechnical Commission.  The key standards in that regard are contained in the
CISPR 22 dealing with "Limits and method of measurement of radio disturbance
characteristics of information technology equipment", from which Europeanstandards and subsequent national transpositions stem.
3. What conformity assessment procedures, either in respect of the product or the
manufacturing process, does your government require for approval of information technology
products (electromagnetic compatibility (EMC), electrical safety, telecommunications and radio
terminal equipment, and other areas)?
May suppliers perform these procedures (e.g. testing, declaration of conformity), or
must third parties perform these procedures?
What international guidelines or standards, if any, are those procedures based on?
(a) In the case of electrical safety, the "Low Voltage" Directive sets up a procedure by
which the manufacturer or his authorized representative established in theG/IT/SPEC/Q1/9
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Community ensures and declares conformity (in the form of a written declaration of
conformity) of the electrical equipment with the provisions of the Directive,
eventually by applying harmonized standards.  Before placing a product on the
market, the manufacturer establishes the technical documentation which makes it
possible in post market surveillance to assess whether the electrical equipment
complies with the requirements of the Directive.  The electrical equipment mustequally have the "CE" marking affixed, showing the conformity of the equipment.
No mandatory third party certification is required.
(b) In the case of electromagnetic compatibility, the "EMC" Directive clearly
distinguishes two situations.  If the manufacturer decides to conform with the so
called European "harmonized standards", the procedure relies on the manufacturer's
declaration of conformity of their product, with no intervention by a third party.  In
other cases, it is incumbent upon the manufacturer to complete its declaration with atechnical file bringing the evidence of the safety of the product, with special
provisions applying to radio transmitters and telecommunications terminal
equipment.  This technical file must include a certificate or report by a third party
("competent body").  Typical approval by a third party ("notified body") is required
only for radio transmitters.
(c) For telecom terminal equipment, the placing on the market must be preceded by a
third party certification of full quality assurance under the current legal framework.
A manufacturer's declaration with no intervention from a third party is proposed for
telecom terminal equipment (but not radio equipment) under the draft new Directive
which is currently under discussion.
(d) One more, detailed information on EC legislation as to conformity assessment in the
field of electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) and electrical equipment designed for
use within certain voltage limits is available in acrobat "pdf" format at
http:// www.cc.cec:8080/en/co mm/dgiii/public.htm.
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