| The EMC Directive (89/336/EEC) was adopted on 3 May
1989 and came into force on 1 January 1992. An amending Directive (92/31/EEC)
adopted on 28 April 1992 introduced a transitional period that ended on 31
December 1995. Both these Directives were transposed into UK Law by the
Electromagnetic Compatibility Regulations (SI 1992/2372), which came into
force on 28 October 1992. Subsequently, SI
1992/2372 was amended by SI 1994/3080 which implemented the CE Marking
Directive, and by SI 1995/3180 which disapplied the 1992 Regulations in respect
of vehicles, components and separate technical units.
The above Regulations have now been repealed and replaced by the
Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) Regulations 2005 (SI 2005/281)
that came into force on 7 March 2005. The new Regulations consolidate the
previous Regulations, and also incorporate further amendments. These dissapply
the Regulations in respect of certain types of apparatus specifically covered by
other Directives, and provide for a new enforcement authority, OFCOM, to act in
place of the Radiocommunications Agency in so far as enforcement relates to the
protection and management of the radio spectrum.
The Regulations require that all electrical and electronic apparatus marketed
in the UK, including imports, that satisfy the requirements of the EMC Directive
must carry
CE Marking.
In 1998 the EMC Directive was the subject of
a review as part of the European Commission's SLIM exercise. This resulted in a
number of recommendations for changes to the Directive to improve its clarity.
Following the review, the Commission set up the EMC SLIM Working Group to advise
it on its task of proposing a revised EMC Directive. This led to a
Commission proposal for a new EMC Directive that was published at the end of
2002.
Following consideration by the European Parliament and the Council, the new
EMC Directive 2004/108/EC) was published in the Official Journal on 6 January
2005. It is available at
http://europa.eu.int/comm/enterprise/electr_equipment/emc/directiv/dir2004_108.htm
The European Commission held a seminar in
Brussels on 3 February 2005 to discuss the implications of the new EMC
Directive. The papers presented at the seminar are available at
new EMC Directive seminar.
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