Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC).

All products placed on the market within the European Union must comply with the relevant standards and directives. New-style directives require that anyone responsible for a product should self-declare compliance to the appropriate regulations by applying the CE mark to the product.

GBE Designs are able to provide advice and testing services to provide you with evidence of due diligence in this regard. With our associated company, METECC, GBE Designs can offer full pre-compliance testing and verification for any new and existing electronic product designs. This also enables GBE Designs to offer a ‘design for EMC’ facility to ensure your product is fully compliant which includes manufacturing ‘gold brick’ production prototype to carry out testing and validation. This is an incredibly important part of the any electronic product design cycle as leaving EMC to the final stages of design invariably leads to costly mistakes due to essential re-design after EMC test failure.

For electronic products there are two main concerns: electromagnetic compatibility (the EMC Directive 2004/108/EC), and functional safety (including the low voltage directive).

To comply with these directives, it is necessary to determine the category to which the product belongs and the environment in which it is to be used. If a single standard covers your equipment then a self-declaration of conformance (DoC) can be made once checks have been carried out for the product's performance against the standards. If, however, a product needs to meet more than one standard (a computer in a hospital, for example, may have to meet the relevant medical standards along with usual standards for a PC), a technical file, rather than a DoC, must be provided.

The DoC
A DoC is a legally-binding self-declaration that states that the essential requirements of the EMC and safety directives have been met by the product. If the DoC is questioned by the authorities, the provider must be able to demonstrate compliance.

Why Test?
The maximum penalty for putting non-compliant products onto the market is 3 months imprisonment and/or £5000 fine. A product recall or replacement exercise could be enforced along with the prohibition or suspension of product sales.

Note: Documentation must be kept for 10 years after the product is placed on the market.
METECC, run by Peter and Sharon Metcalfe, has become a leading pre-compliance test house in the UK with over 20 years combined experience in EMC and LVD (low voltage directive) testing, training and consultancy.

Peter and Sharon are both active Radio Amateurs (along with two of GBE’s team!).