The Directive on radio equipment (RED)

The European directive on radio equipment 2014/53/EU (RED) It establishes a regulatory framework for the placing of radio equipment on the European market. The aim of this Directive is to ensure a single market for radio equipment, establishing the essential requirements for safety and health, the electromagnetic compatibility and the efficient use of radio spectrum. Directive 2014/53/EU (RED), Furthermore, is the basis of further regulations governing some additional aspects, such as - for example – privacy protection and anti-fraud measures.

This Directive is part of the legislative framework for the free movement and marketing of products in the European community. Its ultimate aim is to avoid the risks associated with radio products, defending a common interest of European citizens and companies requiring certification of radio equipment.

The English name for this directive: Radio Equipment Directive;

Its abbreviation is: RED;

Its code is: 2014/53/I;

Previous directives on this subject, Today they are no longer in force: 1999/5/EC, 98/13/EC.

E 'useful to know the references of the directives because they often are in the products or components documentation, but also in the European laws and regulations if they have not recently been updated.

Field of application: Directive 2014/53/EU (RED) regards any electrical or electronic product that emits and / or receives radio waves intentionally for the purpose of radio communication and / or radiodetermination.

Essential requirements: affected products from the scope of the Directive, to be put on the European market, They must comply with the following essential requirements for the certification of radio equipment.

health and safety protection of people and domestic animals and property, including objectives related to the safety requirements of Directive 2014/35 / EU, but without application of minimum voltage limits;
Adequate level of electromagnetic compatibility pursuant to Directive 2014/30 / EU;
Effective use of the radio spectrum and avoidance of harmful interference;
Radio equipment of certain categories must ensure compliance to additional essential requirements, such as fraud or for use by disabled.

Main contents of the Directive

preconditions
Field of application
Definitions
Essential requirements
Obligations of the manufacturer
Obligations of the other economic operators
Free movement
Presumption of conformity and harmonized standards
Conformity assessment
notified bodies
CE Marking

preconditions

They are intended as "Background" the reasons that led to the writing of that directive.

Field of application

The scope defines the categories of products or phenomena covered by Directive. Often a general criterion is expressed accompanied by explicit lists of products / phenomena that are subject to the Directive and product / phenomena that are excluded from the Directive in order to clarify the specific situations.

Definitions

In the section "Definitions" means including all those specific explanations of key terms in the Directive, useful to fully understand the scope.

Essential requirements

The essential requirements are the requirements which the product must meet in order to be placed on the market. Often the essential requirements are placed in Annex I to Directive.

Obligations of the manufacturer

The manufacturer (or his authorized representative in the European Community) is the main person responsible for placing a product on the market. This chapter describes the requirements and procedures that they must follow, referring to the annexes to the directive to speigazioni and more detailed regulations.

Obligations of the other economic operators

Distributors and retailers are also responsible and liable if they trade items that do not comply with European directives. They must ensure that the product has been subjected to the certification of radio equipment, which is equipped with the EU declaration of conformity and which bears the CE mark.

Any importer must ensure that the procedures for the verification of conformity of the product have been performed, must verify the presence of the CE marking and make sure that the technical documentation of the product is available to the competent national authorities.

Free movement

Member States must presume that products bearing the CE marking comply with all the provisions of the applicable directives providing for the affixing. They can not therefore be prohibited, restrict or prevent the placing on the market and putting into service in their territory of products bearing the CE marking, unless the provisions relating to CE marking have not been applied improperly.

Presumption of conformity and harmonized standards

At the directives of our interest it is associated with a list of harmonized standards that is published in the European Official Journal. The harmonized standards greatly facilitate the verification of compliance of a product with the requirements of Directive. In these standards is described in detail how the tests should be performed or other kinds of assessment needed to verify that a product complies.

If a product is available the harmonized standards to cover all the requirements of the Directive - if these standards are applied comprehensively and the product passes all tests provided by the same rules – then it can be assumed that the product complies with the requirements of that Directive. In the absence of harmonized standards adequate to the product path it is more complicated and expensive.

Equipping a suitable laboratory to perform the tests required by the Harmonized Standards thing is rather onerous. For this reason, manufacturers will often rely on external testing laboratories.

notified bodies

In Europe it is the body that can make an assessment of compliance by acting as a third party or whether the one made by the manufacturer and its trusted laboratories is correct. In most cases, however, the use of a notified body is not provided or not required.

CE Marking

The products comply with all the provisions of the applicable directives providing for the CE marking must convey it. Such marking is, especially, an indication that the products comply with the essential requirements of all applicable directives and that they were subjected to a conformity assessment procedure provided for by the Directives. Member States are also required to take the necessary measures to protect the CE marking.

Sicom Testing offers a complete service for Certification of radio equipment operating according to the main telecommunication standard.