What is the CE Mark?
CE stands for Conformité Européenne (French), or European Conformity in English. CE represents and effort to harmonize related national regulations in an effort to reduce regulatory barriers between European countries, and to facilitate the movement of goods between them. A CE mark on a product indicates that it conforms with all applicable European EMC and Safety requirements.
What is EN 55032?
CISPR 32 was adopted by the EU under the scope of EN 55032 and is required as of March 5, 2017. CISPR 32 was designed to replace CISPR 13, CISPR 22 and EN 55103-1, which were previously used to show compliance to emission regulations for receivers and information technology equipment.
CISPR 32 was created to address the fact that many of today’s IT equipment integrates multiple features and capabilities. Rather than test to multiple standards, product developers need only test to CISPR 32. While CISPR 32 is not an exact merge of the two previous standards, it does closely resemble CISPR 22 in several ways:
- Telecommunications port conducted emissions limits specified over 150 kHz to 30 MHz
- Radiated emissions limits specified over 30 MHz to 6 GHz
- Radiated emissions limits from FM receivers at the fundamental and harmonics of the local oscillator frequency
Additional information can be found here.
What is NRTL?
An NRTL is an organization that OSHA has recognized as meeting the legal requirements in 29 CFR 1910.7. The recognition is an acknowledgement that an organization has the necessary qualifications to perform safety testing and certification of the specific products covered within its scope of recognition.
Additional information can be found here.
What is an Assessment Body?
An assessment body is an organization with the authority to issue Certifications for compliance in a given region or country. In the US and Canada, Telecommunication Certification Body’s (TCB) review test reports from accredited laboratories against Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and Industry Canada (IC) regulations. Internationally, various Conformity Assessment Bodies can provide certified test reports used to list with various government entities.
What is FCC Part 15?
The Federal Code of Regulation (CFR) FCC Part 15 is a common test standard for most electronic and electrical equipment. FCC Part 15 covers unlicensed products that may be intentional radiators (transmitters) or unintentional (incidental) radiators in the frequency spectrum. FCC Part 15 also covers the technical specifications, administrative requirements and other conditions relating to the marketing of FCC Part 15 devices.
When is FCC Part 15 required?
Any digital device that generates and uses timing signals or pulses at a rate in excess of 9,000 pulses or cycles per second (9kHz) and uses digital techniques is subject to subpart B of Part 15.
Furthermore, any device that intentionally generates and emits radio frequency energy by radiation or induction (intentional radiator or transmitter) is subject to subpart C of Part 15.
NOTE: Computer terminals and peripherals that are intended to be connected to a computer are digital devices.
What is exempt from the FCC Part 15?
Exempted devices can include:
- digital device utilized exclusively in any transportation vehicles
- digital device used exclusively for electronic control utilized by a public utility or in an industrial plant.
- digital device utilized exclusively in an appliance (microwave oven, dishwasher, clothes dryer, air conditioner, etc.)
- digital devices that have a power consumption not exceeding 6 nW
- non-digital circuitry or passive devices
- battery operated digital devices in which both the highest frequency used/generated is less than 1.705 MHz
What is FCC Part 18?
FCC Part 18 outlines the US emissions requirements for Industrial, Scientific and Medical (ISM) devices. The Federal Communications Commission regulates ISM equipment in order to prevent harmful interference to authorized radio communication services. For medical devices, the FDA requires Part 18 and additional Immunity requirements for their approval process. Typically, the FDA accepts testing to EN 60601-1-2 as an alternative to Part 18 due to only minor differences between the standards.
How do I know if I need an FCC logo on my product?
Generally speaking, the FCC logo is now optional.
Contact us and we can answer any questions you have about product labeling requirements.
What is Certification?
Most people use the term ‘Certification’ loosely to mean “testing the product so it can be legally sold”.
But if you want to get technical, certifications occur when a product is listed on a regulator’s site or the site of an acknowledged 3rd party authority (usually after conformance testing has taken place and reports have been submitted)
Examples of formal Certifications:
- UL or NRTL listing for US safety assessment
- CB Scheme for EU safety assessment
- MIC certification for Japan
- FCC or IC (ISED) certification
- Bluetooth SIG
- WiFi Alliance
Non-Certification Examples:
- Unintentional emissions testing for US, IC or CE
- Testing for products falling under the Electromagnetic Compatibility Directive (EMCD)
- CE Safety testing for the EU
- RF testing for products falling under the Radio Equipment Directive (RED) in the EU
- Susceptibility (Immunity) testing for the EU
Certifications are usually a more rigorous approval process and usually include aftermarket surveillance activities that are carried out by the local authority or assigned 3rd party.
What is Supplier’s Declaration of Conformity?
Supplier’s Declaration of Conformity (DoC) is a procedure where the responsible party ensures testing is completed and takes the necessary steps to ensure that the equipment complies with the appropriate technical standards. Submittal of a sample unit or representative data to the Commission demonstrating compliance is not required unless specifically requested. The equipment is labeled to show compliance with the Supplier’s Declaration of Conformity process. Contact us to get started with your product SDoC.
What is Immunity or Susceptibility?
Susceptibility is the tendency of electrical equipment, referred to as the victim or Device Under Test (DUT), to malfunction or break down in the presence of emissions, which are known as radio frequency interference (RFI). Immunity is the opposite of susceptibility, being the ability of equipment to function correctly in the presence of RFI, with the discipline of “hardening” equipment being known equally as susceptibility or immunity.
Immunity testing includes radiated (EN 61000-4-3), conducted (EN 61000-4-6), burst or fast transients (EN 61000-4-4), surge (EN 61000-4-5), dips and interruptions (EN 61000-4-11), power frequency magnetics (EN 61000-4-8) and ESD (EN 61000-4-2) under multiple product standards including: EN 55024, EN 61326, EN 60601-1-2, EN 60669, EN 301 489, EN 61000-6-2 and EN 61000-6-4. For medical devices in the US, the FDA requires Immunity compliance for their approval process.
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