Commission EMC Guidelines

The European Commission first published guidelines on the application of the EMC Directive in October 1993. In 1995 they began a review, together with Member State Government and Industry experts, which led to the production of revised guidelines in March 1996. At the time, the Commission stated that the guidelines were being made available rather than published, but it was possible to obtain them in the UK from Trade Associations and EMC Clubs. A version of these (the final draft, almost identical to the version which was made generally available) was published in the first edition of the Handbook last year.

In September 1996, the Commission announced that it was making a further revision to the guidelines, and that the March 1996 edition was only a draft; this new version would become the first revised edition of the guidelines.

The September 1996 draft was greatly enlarged and represented a radical departure from some of the concepts of the previous guidelines, and arguably from the requirements of the Directive itself. Two meetings of Government and Industry experts were held with the Commission, and a large number of comments were taken into account.

At the end of 1996, the Commission published the final draft. This had removed some of the questionable statements, but is still incomplete in areas of marine and aviation equipment (where European decisions have yet to be finalised). It does offer improved guidance in interpreting some of the more ambiguous requirements of the Directive, but as with every edition of this document, the contents are not to be considered to represent the Commission's official opinion. Furthermore, where there are discrepancies between the EMC Directive and these guidelines, the text of the national regulations transposing the Directive takes precedence.

The Commission expects to publish the finalised second edition by the end of March 1997. This is too late to allow reproduction in this edition of the Handbook. We have therefore included the final draft.

If when purchasing the Handbook you subscribe to the Update Option you will automatically receive the final amended draft as soon as this becomes available. If you did not purchase the Update Option, contact Nutwood UK, + 44 (0)1981 590481 and we will send you the amendments but you will not, of course, be entitled to any other Updates that appear between now and the publication of the EMC Handbook '98, Edition 3.

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