Conducted by York EMC (Castleford, West Yorkshire, UK), the study was "triggered by many questions and complaints regarding the applicability of the [directive] to the installation of aftermarket products in vehicles," says Olly Wheaton, chairman of ETSI's technical committee for EMC and Radio Spectrum Matters (ERM). The report from York also proposed improvements to address problems caused by duplicated requirements.

As a result of the study's findings, the European Commission's DG Enterprise convened an ad hoc group to amend the directive. The group includes representatives from interested member states and selected industry associations, including the European Telecommunication Standards Institute (ETSI). Making changes to the directive, however, may require formal revision through the European Parliament.

Wheaton says it is important to note that the harmonized EMC and R&TTE standards take into account all environments, including vehicles. Therefore, at the first ad hoc meeting, ETSI proposed that in-vehicle radiocommunications equipment that has already been certified and CE marked for EMC should be sufficient for having met the EMC requirements of the Automotive EMC Directive. ETSI contends that because radiocommunications products are not involved in direct control of vehicle functions, repeated EMC assessment is not justified. Moreover, the duplicated testing hinders free access to market.

Representatives in the commission's ad hoc group are primarily from ministries of transport. "As a consequence, there is little support to change Directive 95/54/EC to accept CE marked products since these fall under the regulations of a different (i.e., telecommunications) sector," Wheaton says.

He points out that radiocommunications products contribute to the electromagnetic environment, including public roads, and that ETSI ERM considers it essential that the viewpoint of radio and telecommunications authorities be taken into account. He has called for the heads of national ETSI delegations to make their concerns known to their respective ministries of transport, and, where appropriate, to lobby at the European level.

Wheaton rightly concludes that the objective is to achieve a regulatory environment that considers "in a more balanced way" the needs of all of the market players.

Sherrie Conroy, Editor
sherrie.conroy@cancom.com