New Radio Equipment Directive Adopted by EU, Awaits Publication in OJ

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The new Radio Equipment Directive (RED) was adopted by the Members of the EU Parliament (MEPs) on March 13, 2014 by 550 votes to 12.  It is now awaiting approval by the EU Council and then publication in the Official Journal (OJ) of the European Union.  Member states will have two years to transpose the rules into their national laws and manufacturers will have an additional year to comply.

The RED will take the place of the R&TTE Directive.  You can read more about this change in a previous post.  The draft directive lays down harmonized rules for placing radio equipment, including cellular telephones, car-door openers and modems, on the market. The new rules aim to keep pace with the growing number and variety of radio equipment devices and ensure that they do not interfere with each other or human health.

On the same day as the vote, MEPs called for a renewed effort to develop a common charger for certain categories of radio equipment, in particular mobile phones, because it would simplify their use and reduce waste and costs.

MEPs also backed provisions in the directive that would give the authorities additional market surveillance tools to detect radio equipment products that fail to comply with the new safety rules.  After an evaluation, the European Commission will identify those categories of equipment which will need to be registered before they can be put on the market. A similar database already operates in the U.S.

The next meetings of the RTTE Compliance Association (CA) and the European Union Association of Notified Bodies (EUANB) will take place May 19-20, 2014 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. The details of the new RED will be the main subject of the meeting.