ALERT… Come June 13, 2017 the current directive regulating radio equipment will be repealed and new requirements will come into law and all new products will need to comply with the updated directive. We are now less than 6 months away and have to make sure that all products being sold or placed into service in Europe MUST comply to RED (Radio Equipment Directive).

Summary of Changes?

Please note that to sell Wi-Fi products into the EU you must be compliant to RED and not R&TTE. One must understand what is being changed so necessary steps can be taken to get Wi-Fi products in compliance. The four basic standards for WIFI are changing.  They will be officially harmonized and listed in the Official Journal as follows:

                        *per Sulis Consultants of Dec 20, 2016 but subject to change

As shown above, the 5 GHz standard will not be official until after the mandatory June 13, 2017 transition date so you must obtain an EU-type examination certificate from a Notified Body (NB) which will be an added expense to you.

How can OEM’s conform to RED?

There are three ways to conform to RED via three annexes listed at the end of the RED directive. 

1. Annex II – standard CE Declaration of Conformity
2. Annex III – EU-type examination certificate issued by a Notified Body
3. Annex IV – Full quality assurance by a NB with NB # on label

Because all the standards are not harmonized, if your product utilizes the 5 GHz band, you must use Annex III or IV method.  The lab will test your product to the draft standard, issue the EU-type examination certificate (this replaces a NB opinion) which can be used as evidence of conformity.  If your product only uses the 2.4 GHz band, you can use Annex II. Note after May 07 since EN300-328 and EN301-489 will be fully harmonized.

Other requirements are as stated below:

• The RED CE Declaration of Conformity must include the Manufacturer’s name, trade name and postal address. All technical documentation must be kept for 10 years.
• The label requires the standard CE Mark (5 mm minimum) but does not require the NB number nor the alert symbol except for the Annex IV method. The postal address of the Manufacturer or Importer must be on the label with some exceptions.
• The User Manual must also include information on the frequency bands used as well as the maximum power transmitted.
• A newly added requirement is Receiver Blocking which is a measure of the equipment’s ability to receive a wanted signal on its operating channel in the presence of an unwanted input (blocking) signal outside the normal operating bands. Packet Error Rate of less than 10% is the criteria.  Also, for immunity, upper test range increases from 2.7 GHz to 6 GHz for certain tests.

What’s to come?

Starting around June 2018, a RED registration system will be in place where you must register your product and place the registration number on your product (label).

As you can see there are a lot of regulatory updates that will be required and it can be overwhelming for some. At Silex we pride ourselves in providing world class certification support to our customers.  Currently working to get all our products in compliance to these new European updates. Please register yourself  by clicking the link below to get regular updates on the certification status.  We look forward to help you through the maze of these upcoming regulatory changes.