Regulatory Bodies and Issues in Europe
The European Commission, EC
As part of their effort to harmonise the regulatory environment in Europe,
the European Commission from time to time issues Directives and Recommendations. The
Commission has been particularly active within the Telecommunications field in this way
over the past decade and DECT has been impacted positively by such actions.
Listed below are some of these EC documents and details of where they may be obtained:
The EU Council Directive (91/287/EEC) of June 1991 on the frequency band to be designated for the coordinated introduction of digital European cordless telecommunications (DECT) into the Community
The EU Council Directive (91/288/EEC) of June 1991 on the coordinated introduction of digital European cordless telecommunications (DECT)into the Community
The EU Council Directive (96/2/EEC) of 1996 amends an earlier Directive (90/388/EEC) with the aim to lift restraints of competition for new mobile telecommunications operators. Within this context it identifies DECT services as an essential element of the provision of personal communications services and states that member states shall not refuse to allocate licences for public access systems based upon DECT technology.
Four other key Directives issued by the European Commission include:
The Terminal Equipment Directive 91/263/EEC
The EMC Directive 89/336/EEC
The Low Voltage Directive 89/336/EEC
The CE Marking Directive 93/68/EEC
The impact of these relates to the need for DECT equipment to be self-certified or tested
for Type Approval, EMC and safety before it may be CE-marked and sold in the European
market. Fuller details of the implications of these Directives may be found on our Equipment Testing page.
Type Approval
The specifics of earlier Type Approval Testing for any particular piece of equipment
are contained in Common Technical Regulations, CTRs, issued by the EC and poublished in
the Official Journal of the European Community (the OJ). Three EC Decisions relating
to DECT equipment in this respect are:
EC Decision 97/523/CE of July 1997, published in the Official Journal
L215
EC Decision 97/524/CE of July 1997, published in the Official Journal
L215
EC Decision 97/525/CE of July 1997, published in the Official Journal
L215
Again, fuller details of the CTRs relating to DECT may be found on our Equipment Testing page
The CTRs are derived from the ETSI standards which specify the DECT technology.
Details of these may be found on our Standards pages
From 2000, with the implementation of the new TTE Directive, formal approval testing will, strictly speaking, no longer be essentially required - rather it will be the responsibility of the manufacturer to ensure that his equipment is conformant to specifications. If he is later challenged in this respect he could be liable for substantial legal penalties if his product found wanting. For this reason it is likely that test houses will continue to do good business, as insurance for manufacturers, since a certificate of conformance offers a good legal defence.
CEPT/ERC Recommandation 21-13 (Bruxelles 1994)Relative au regime d’attribution des licences pour les equipements de telecommunications numeriques sans fil Europeens (DECT) http://www.ero.dk/DOC/HTML/Rec2113f.htm