WIREDGOV

The European Commission has yesterday proposed to update the Radio Equipment Directive. The proposal aims to make sure all market players comply with the rules regarding the avoidance of interference, so that consumers do not have problems when opening car doors, monitoring their babies or listening to radio. The Commission also proposes to clarify and simplify the Directive, to facilitate its application and to eliminate unnecessary burden ultimately increasing all stakeholders' confidence in the regulatory framework.

European Commission Vice President Antonio Tajani, Commissioner for Industry and Entrepreneurship, said: “Mobile communications enrich the lives of citizens and are essential for the competitiveness of EU companies. The R&TTE sector is one of the few high-tech sectors where the EU is a global leader. Therefore, we need to strengthen confidence among producers to ensure that this sector can continue its successful growth. We also propose to eliminate unclear or unnecessary requirements which deter innovation, to enable the radio and telecommunications sector to pursue its spectacular growth."

The Commission proposes:

• to strengthen the level of compliance with the Directive, ensuring that citizens have access to radio products which operate without interference. For example, market surveillance and customs officers could better check the safety of products using more effective tools.

• to clarify the directive, in particular clearly spelling out the obligations for every market player, be it manufacturer or importer, and also by limited adaptations of scope.

• to simplify the directive, including through suppression of notification of certain products and other administrative obligations. The new directive would be aligned with the New Legislative Framework for products (IP/11/1385), which makes the overall regulatory framework for products more consistent and easier to apply.

The proposal would also introduce some specific requirements, such as:

• ensuring that software can only be used with radio equipment after the compliance of that particular combination of software and the radio equipment has been demonstrated;

• interoperability with accessories such as chargers, and/or work via networks with other radio equipment.

Background

The number of mobile devices and wireless applications has grown spectacularly over recent years and continues to show enormous potential for further innovation and expansion. However, the sustained increase in applications, technologies and platforms also creates new risk of interference between the various devices on the market. To enable the sector to further expand we need to avoid such interference and to ensure that we make increasingly efficient use of the radio spectrum.

The R&TTE Directive on radio equipment and telecommunications terminal equipment entered into force in 1999 and has been crucial to achieving an internal market in this area. The radio communications and telecommunications equipment industries sector encompasses all products using the radio frequency spectrum (e.g. car door openers, mobile communications equipment such as cellular telephones, CB radio, broadcast transmitters, etc.) and all equipment related to public telecommunications networks (e.g. ADSL modems, telephones, telephone switches).

For more information:

http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/sectors/rtte/documents/legislation/review/index_en.htm

Contacts :

Carlo Corazza (+32 2 295 17 52)

Sara Tironi (+32 2 299 04 03)