The Proposed Radio and Telecommunications Terminal Equipment Directive (RTTE)

By Mark Budd, Laboratory Manager, KTL

1.0. Abstract

The regulation of telecommunications terminal equipment within Europe has always been perceived as a burden by manufacturers. The European Commission's policy of decreasing the regulation of terminal equipment has resulted in a proposal for a new directive which, when implemented, will allow manufacturers to self-declare compliance in a similar way to the LVD and EMC Directives. This paper outlines the key points of the proposed directive.

2.0 Background

In the last twelve years, as part of the European Commission's drive for a single market, there has been an attempt in Europe to reduce the regulatory obligations placed on manufacturers TTE. The European Commission started the process with the introduction of Directive 86/361, the so-called "1st phase" directive, which introduced the possibility of "one-stop testing" of equipment using NET standards. This was followed by Directive 91/263, the so-called "2nd phase" or TTE directive, which introduced "one-stop approval" of equipment using CTR standards. In both cases, the technical requirements were accompanied by a rigorous mandatory production quality assurance requirement where each factory used by a manufacturer had to be assessed against a notified body's requirements. The success of these directives was slow to arrive because of two main problems :

the failure to produce NET and CTR standards in a timely fashion, and;
the slowness of some member states to transpose the directives into national laws.

"One-stop approval" has been achievable for many types of digital interface terminal equipment for some time, and has only recently become possible for analogue interface equipment with the introduction of CTR21. This disparity, plus the significant costs of terminal equipment approval, caused the European Commission to consider reducing the requirements further. In their April 1995 paper "Telecommunications Certification : The Way Ahead", Directorate General XIII of the European Commission presented their vision for the next step in the certification of terminal equipment which encouraged a fresh approach and a thorough review of existing legislation and regulatory procedures. The legislative framework proposed consisted of :

Simplified and relaxed procedures;
The minimum essential requirements necessary;
Consistency with other European legislation (eg the EMC and LVD directives);
Responsiveness to the needs of the market.

These proposals resulted 2 years later in a Draft Directive known as the CTE (Connected Telecoms Equipment) Directive), which was published in the Official Journal of the European Communities on 14th August 1997 (C 248/04) under the title "Proposal for a European Parliament and Council Directive on connected telecommunications equipment and the mutual recognition of the conformity of equipment". The CTE draft introduced new and confusing definitions of terminal equipment and interfaces and introduced a specific article on manufacturer liability. Subsequent to the publication various discussions took place which resulted in several modifications, including a title change to RTTE (Radio and TTE), the inclusion of less confusing terminal equipment and interface definitions, the removal of the liability article and a redrafted text. Recently a Common Position was adopted by the European Council on the 8th June, published as 98/C 227/05, which is reviewed here.

3.0 Review of the proposed RTTE Directive

The proposed Directive has been written in the style of other "new approach directives" and uses some of the standard conformity assessment modules used in other directives. It has been designed to replace the following directives:

91/263 Telecommunications Terminal Equipment Directive;
93/97 Satellite Earth Station Equipment Directive.

(both recently combined in directive 98/13)

and simplify the application of :

93/68 - Marking Directive
89/336 - EMC Directive.

The major elements of the directive are :

the scope covers radio and TTE;
new essential requirements;
no specific standards;
"light" conformity assessment regime based on manufacturers declaration - increased liability for manufacturers.

These and other issues are discussed here.

3.1 Definitions

The main definitions in the draft RTTE directive are :

TTE - Telecommunications Terminal Equipment;
Defined as :"product or relevant component thereof, which is intended to be connected by any means whatsoever to interfaces of public telecommunications networks"
RE - Radio Equipment;
"product or relevant component thereof, capable of communication by means of the emission and/or reception of radio waves utilising the spectrum allocated to terrestrial/space radio communication"
Radio Waves;
"electromagnetic waves of frequencies from 9kHz to 3000GHz, propagated in space without artificial guide".
Interface;
(i) "a network termination point, which is a physical connection point at which a user is provided with access to public telecommunications network and/or;
(ii) an air interface specifying the radio path between Radio Equipment and their technical specifications".
Equipment Class;
"a class identifying particular types of Apparatus which under this Directive are considered similar and those interfaces for which connection of the apparatus is designed. Apparatus may belong to more than one Equipment Class".
Harmful interference;
"interference which endangers the functioning of a radio navigation service or of other safety services or which seriously degrades, obstructs, or repeatedly interrupts a radio communications service operating in accordance with the applicable community or national regulations".

The definitions of TTE, RE and radio waves are easily understood. The Interface definition refers to "and their technical specifications" - member states must notify the Commission of the types of Interface offered by public network operators who, in turn, are obligated to publish interface specifications of a sufficient level to enable the design of apparatus. These specifications must also include sufficient information to allow manufacturers to carry out (if they so wish) relevant tests. The UK Department of Trade and Industry are working on a Code of Practice document to assist UK network operators with the task of producing Interface specifications.

Following the notification by member states, the Commission, using an appropriate technical committee (TCAM see below) shall establish the equivalence between notified interfaces and assign an Equipment Class Identifier, details of which shall be published in the Official Journal of the European Communities. It isn't clear at this stage what form the Equipment Class will take.

3.2 Scope

As the definitions show, the scope has been enlarged compared to existing directives to include radio equipment. In addition, equipment with innovative interfaces is not excluded by virtue of there being no specific standards associated with the directive (unlike the TTE directive, for instance, where only CTRs can be used). Excluded equipment is listed in Annex I of the proposed Directive (see section 3.9 below). In addition, apparatus used exclusively for activities concerning public security, defence, state security, and state activities in areas of criminal law are also excluded from the scope of application. Where apparatus incorporates, or is an accessory to a medical device covered by 93/42/EEC and 90/385/EEC or forms part of a vehicle component covered by 72/245/EEC and 92/61/EEC the apparatus shall be governed by the proposed directive without prejudice to the application of 93/42, 90/385, 72/245, 92/261/EEC.

3.3 New Essential Requirements

There are three sets of essential requirements.

The following essential requirements apply to both TTE and RE :
- a) the objectives with respect to the safety requirements contained in Directive 73/23/EEC (LVD) but with no lower voltage limit applying
- b) the protection requirements with respect to electromagnetic compatibility contained in Directive 89/336/EEC (EMC)
- c) prevention of harm to the network or its functioning, causing an unacceptable degradation of service to other than the user of the apparatus.
Radio Equipment shall effectively use the spectrum allocated to terrestrial/space radio communication and orbital resources so as to avoid harmful interference.
Apparatus in certain Equipment Classes shall :
- inter work via networks with other apparatus;
- contain safeguards to ensure that the personal data and privacy of the user and subscriber is protected;
- support certain features to ensure avoidance of fraud;
- support features ensuring access to the emergency services;
- support certain features to facilitate use by users with a disability.

The inter working etc. issue is similar to that covered in 91/263 for justified case services such as Voice Telephony. The intention is that the essential requirements will be included in harmonised standards whose reference numbers will be published in the OJ. However, it isn't clear what form these standards will take or when they will be generated and so in the mean-time, the proposed directive will allow the existing harmonised standards to be used as a means of demonstrating compliance.

In the absence of any harmonised standards (which will surely be the case for many types of radio equipment) the Conformity Assessment Procedures allow the manufacturer to apply their own solutions to demonstrate compliance with the essential requirements (see 3.6 below).

The situation with standards and the new essential requirements is likely to be subject to significant debate as the proposed directive doesn't adequately address the issue.

3.4 TCAM

TCAM, the Telecommunication Conformity Assessment and Market Surveillance committee, is the committee proposed by the Directive to assist the Commission in the technical aspects of the operation of the Directive. The specific areas of operation are :

interpretation of harmonised standards;
assessment of cases where a harmonised standard is found to have shortcomings;
application of essential requirements to certain Equipment Classes (see 3.3 3 above).

The committee has not yet been formed but will consist of representatives of the member states.

3.5 Placing On the Market

Apparatus can be placed on the market only if it complies with the appropriate essential requirements. The proposed directive states that apparatus shall not be subject to any further national provisions.

In the case where a particular class of equipment is on the market and the Commission make a decision regarding the application of the essential requirements relevant to that class of equipment i.e. a change in requirement or an extra requirement, then the proposed Directive allows the apparatus to remain on the market for a "reasonable period" , the length of which would be determined by TCAM.

Apparatus placed on the market must be accompanied with information for the user describing the intended use and a declaration of conformity.

Where Radio Equipment is involved, the packaging and user instructions must identify the member state or geographical area within a member state where the apparatus is intended to be used. In addition, the marking on RE must alert the user to any restrictions of use of the apparatus in certain member states. For RE using frequency bands where the use is not harmonised throughout the EU, the manufacturer (or his authorised representative) must notify the appropriate national authority no less than 4 weeks in advance of their intention to place the equipment on their national market. The notification must include information on the radio characteristics such as operating frequency, channel spacing, modulation, RF power etc.. Member states can only constrain the putting into service of RE for reasons related to the effective and appropriate use of the radio spectrum and the avoidance of harmful interference or to matters relating to public health - a sufficiently broad statement which allows national authorities to protect non-harmonised spectrum allocation within their geographical area.

Apparatus that complies with the essential requirements cannot be refused connection to the appropriate interfaces. However, for apparatus declared to be compliant that causes harm to a network or harmful radio interference, connection can be refused by the operator.

3.6 Conformity Assessment Regime

The conformity assessment procedures are specified in Annexes II, III, IV and V. The annexes are

Annex II is Internal Production Control;
Annex III is Annex II + specific apparatus tests;
Annex IV is the Technical Construction File;
Annex V is Full Quality Assurance.

According to Article 9 of the Directive, the annexes are intended to be used as follows :

TTE: Annex II, IV or V;
RE applying harmonised standards: Annex III, IV or V;
RE not applying harmonised standards: Annex IV and V.

3.6.1 Annex II

Annex II is for TTE only and is based on Module A, internal production control, of Decision 93/465 of 22nd July 1993, concerning the modules for the various phases of the conformity assessment procedures. Under module A, manufacturers must keep technical documentation on a product in a similar way as the LVD technical file.

The technical documentation must cover the design, manufacture and operation of the product, in particular :

a general description of the product;
conceptual design and manufacturing drawings and schemes of components, sub-assemblies, circuits etc.;
descriptions and explanations necessary for the understanding of said drawings and schemes and the operation of the product;
a list of the standards referred to in article 5, applied in full or in part, and descriptions and explanations of the solutions adopted to meet the essential requirements of the directive where such standards have not been applied or do not exist;
results of design calculations made, examinations carried out, etc.;
test reports.

In addition the manufacturer must make a declaration of conformity and take measures to ensure that the manufacturing process ensures compliance of the products with the technical documentation.

The important points to manufacturers here are that unlike for 98/13, no type examination is required by a notified body, testing can be done either third party or in-house, and no factory approval is required. The whole process is under the manufacturers control.

3.6.2 Annex III

Annex III is for RE and consists of Internal production control plus specific product tests, which corresponds to module Aa of 93/465. This consists of Annex II above plus a supplementary requirement that for each product, all essential test suites must be carried out with reference to a notified body unless they are defined in the harmonised standard. The notified body input here is one of advice only rather than type assessment. However, the proposed directive states that on this basis the manufacturer must affix the identification number of the notified body to the apparatus. This situation is likely to be unacceptable to most notified bodies who are unlikely to permit use of their identification number without performing some sort of assessment of the results and therefore, this is likely to be subject to further debate.

3.6.3 Annex IV

Annex IV consists of Annex III plus a technical construction file which consists of the technical documentation requirement of Annex II and declaration of conformity to specific radio test suites described in Annex III. The reference to Annex III would seem to exclude TTE from the use of this annex however, this contradicts Article 9 of the Directive which states that Annex IV can be used for TTE.

The manufacturer must present the file to one or more notified bodies (notifying all bodies concerned of each application). The notified body reviews the file and if it has not been properly demonstrated that the requirements of the Directive have been met, the notified body may issue an opinion to the manufacturer and shall inform the other notified bodies involved. An opinion must be given within 4 weeks and on receipt of a satisfactory opinion or no opinion in that time, the product can be placed on the market. An unsatisfactory opinion presumably means that more work would have to be done by the manufacturer. The file must be kept for a period of ten years.

3.6.4 Annex V

Annex V is based on the Full Quality Assurance Annex IV of Directive 91/263/EEC where the manufacturer operates an approved quality system for design, manufacturer and final product inspection and testing which is subject to surveillance. This would seem to be an expensive option for manufacturers who, with Annex II, III and IV would not have to have their production process assessed at all.

3.7 Liability and Market Surveillance

In the Commission's eyes, the move away from mandatory testing must be matched with a move towards more manufacturer's liability. An early draft of the CTE directive included, in addition to normal liability in accordance with the Directive 85/374 (the Product Liability Directive), specific liability for direct economic loss / damage suffered as a consequence of a non-compliance against the Directive (excluding anticipated profits). Many people commented why this should apply to the telecommunications industry and not to others, for instance the IT industry. As a result of these comments the specific reference to direct economic loss/damage etc.. has been removed.

The proposed directive refers to surveillance authorities who presumably, when complaint driven, will check that manufacturers are complying with the directive. The proposed directive itself is very vague about the role and function of any surveillance authorities and so it is too early as yet to be precise. However, experience under the EMC and LVD directives shows that surveillance authorities in Europe are under-resourced for these sort of tasks and so will find it difficult to play a significant part in the process.

3.8 Marking

Marking has been simplified. Conformant TTE will be marked with the CE mark and conformant RE will be marked with the CE mark + notified body number (if they agree to it !) + Equipment Class identifier if assigned. The 'crossed hockey sticks' (of 91/263) will no longer be applicable.

3.9 Exclusions

Annex I of the proposed Directive lists the equipment that is excluded from its scope. These are :

RE used by radio amateurs unless the equipment is available commercially;
equipment within the scope of Directive 96/98 (Marine directive);
cabling and wiring;
receive only RE intended to be used solely for the reception of sound and TV broadcasting services;
civil aviation products covered by Article 2 of 3922/91;
air traffic control systems covered by 93/65/EEC.

3.10 Effect on Manufacturers

No matter what the detail of the grey areas of the proposed directive manufacturers will benefit in both cost and time. There will be no approval, licence or production quality assessment costs. There will be a reduced time-to-market and, where testing is performed, fewer test requirements. However, there is a possibility that European manufacturers could be placed at a disadvantage compared to those outside of Europe. This is because the new regulations in Europe will be less restrictive than most others in place outside Europe making it easy to export to, rather than from, Europe. Earlier documentation from the Commission, associated with the new directive, stated that third party countries exporting to Europe would have to operate a similar light conformity regime in order to take advantage of the new Directive. This has been diluted in the common position text such that where difficulty is experienced in placing apparatus on the market in third party countries (i.e. outside the EU where no clear reciprocal agreement exists) the Commission "may, if necessary, submit proposals to the [European] Council for an appropriate mandate for negotiation of comparable rights for Community organisations in these third countries".

3.11 Role of Notified Bodies

Annex III (Module Aa) and IV for radio equipment demands the input of a notified body to decide what tests are required, but Annex II (Module A) requires no mandatory notified body input at all. It is difficult to see a clear role for the notified body in this directive at all unless it gets heavily involved in surveillance activities. In the non-mandatory sphere manufacturers may still perceive a value in production quality assessments specific to telecommunications, or a technical assessment to share liability , but at this stage it isn't clear what their role will be.

3.12 Role of Laboratories

The laboratories who operated under the CTRs of 91/263 will no longer have the privilege of mandatory third party testing requirements. The level of essential requirements will also reduce making any testing for the proposed directive very small in nature. However, it is expected that because of the complex nature of some technologies e.g. Basic and Primary ISDN, GSM etc.. manufacturers will still use the technical expertise of these laboratories, but in a more developmental and design validation oriented way. Our experience of the LVD and EMC directives is that diligent manufacturers seek the additional comfort of a third party assessment.

3.13 Time scale for Implementation

It is estimated that member states will have to take measures necessary to comply with the new directive not later than 31st December 1999 and will have to apply the measures from the 1st January 2000. Experience with other Directives suggests that some countries are likely to embrace its principles very readily, whilst several other countries are likely to take longer. It will be interesting to see how the European Commission handles this.

4.0 Conclusions

Undoubtedly the RTTE directive would be a positive step for manufacturers in general and would substantially reduce costs and time-to market in Europe. The detail of how the directive would work in practice (particularly surveillance and notified bodies) is lacking and will be subject to further discussion. But, regardless of the detail the European Commission will press ahead on its de-regulatory path.

KTL can be contacted on 01482 801801.

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