1.10: SUPPLEMENTAL
INFORMATION
REFERENCES
Chapter 1 - Introduction
Printed Circuit Board Design Techniques for EMC Compliance: A Handbook for Designers, Second Edition
by Mark I. Montrose
IEEE Press
© 2000
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1.5 REGULATORY REQUIREMENTS—WORLDWIDE
Test requirements, standards, and procedures have been harmonized on a
worldwide basis. The principles discussed herein will allow regulatory
compliance to be achieved with minimal development cost and shorter
design cycles. The harmonization process is based on the work of expert
technical committees reporting to the International Electrotechnical
Commission (IEC).
The IEC works closely with the International Standards Organization (ISO),
which is chartered by the United Nations. Many countries throughout the
world are members. The IEC oversees the work of technical committees
working on a particular product sector. The IEC's objectives are to
"promote international co-operation on all questions of standardization ...
achieved by issuing publications including recommendations in the form of
international standards."
Two IEC technical committees work on EMC standards. The first is TC77,
Electromagnetic compatibility between equipment including networks
. The
second committee is
International Special Committee on Radio
Interference
(Comité International Spécial des Perturbations
Radioélectriques or CISPR). CISPR publications deal primarily with limits
and measurements of the radio interference characteristics of potentially
disturbing sources or emissions. CISPR and IEC standards coexist to
define most technical aspects related to EMC compliance.
The IEC publications themselves have no legal requirements. National
committees do not have to adopt them, although several countries outside
of Europe have incorporated them into their national laws. The important
aspect of IEC standards is that they have been adopted and harmonized
as a European standard for all members of the European Union. Once
published as a harmonized document, a legal requirement now exists.
A separate organization, the Committee for European Electrotechnical
Standardization (Comité Européen de Normalisation Electrotechnique, or
CENELEC), is responsible for developing European standards for electrical
equipment. CENELEC received its charter from the Parliamentary
Commission of the European Union and produces EMC standards for use
with the EMC Directive, usually based on IEC and CISPR publications.
For telecommunications equipment, the European Telecommunications
Standards Institute, or ETSI, is the standards-making body. ETSI develops
standards for telecommunications network equipment not supplied to the
subscriber, in addition to radio communication equipment and broadcast
transmitters.
CENELEC and ETSI adopt IEC and CISPR publications, whenever
possible, as a basis for preparing a formal standard. The CENELEC
committee responsible for preparing EMC standards is TC110. Technical
Committee TC110 has several subcommittees, including SC110A, which is
responsible for immunity requirements of Information Technology
Equipment (ITE).
International EMC publications are commonly referred to as CISPR or IEC,
when in fact the real standard, after adoption and publication by the
European Commission, is prefixed with an EN (European Normalization)
number. To summarize, the European Commission adopts into law
requirements developed by CISPR and the IEC, as well as other European