ONLINE NEWSLETTER - GLOBAL TELECOM COMPLIANCE NEWS

From:	Communication Certification Laboratory and Patton & Associates
Subject:	Regulatory Update for March, 2002
By:	Joe Jackson, CCL & John Roche, Patton & Associates, Ltd.
Date:	March 7, 2002

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This Edition Covers:
  1 - The EU Product Safety Directive
  2 - The EU - Japan Mutual Recognitions Agreement (MRA)
  3 - Developments affecting European ISDN Inter-working
  4 - Industry Canada New Self Declaration of Conformity
  5 - Industry Canada New Self Marking of Terminal Equipment
6 - Subscription Information

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EU Product Safety Directive
John Roche, Patton & Associates, Ltd.
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The EU Commission have recently published details of the new EU "Product Safety Directive". This Directive is designed to cover all equipment which is not covered by other Directives such as the Low Voltage Directive or the R & TTE Directive.

Readers may think that this will not affect their products. However if a product is shipped with any ancillary item, the new directive may apply. As an example, if a Personal Computer is shipped to the European Union, its certification compliance is covered by the EMC and Low Voltage Directives, however the pair of speakers which are shipped with the PC would be covered by the new "Product Safety Directive".

Readers can obtain a copy of the new EU Product Safety Directive at the following URL:

http://europa.eu.int/comm/enterprise/newapproach/standardization/harmstds/reflist.html

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EU - Japan Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA)
John Roche, Patton & Associates, Ltd.
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News on this subject is a little scarce at present, however details of the Mutual Recognition Agreement have been published by the EU Commission and the Government of Japan. The MRA affects a number of different areas including electrical equipment, radio equipment, and telecommunications apparatus.

For Electrical Products there has been an overhaul of relevant legislation to enable the implementation of the MRA between Japan and the European Community in relation to Conformity Assessment of specified equipment.

For Telecommunication Terminal Equipment and Radio Equipment there will be changes in the conformity assessment system, which will be governed by changes to the relevant laws in Japan and the EU. The new laws will affect the designation and operation of Conformity Assessment Bodies (CAB) as well as technical standards, test items, and assessment procedures.

There are upcoming conferences in Europe which will cover the MRA in more detail. It is anticipated that additional information defining conformity assessment procedures and the designation and monitoring of CABs will be available in the next few months.

Readers who are interested in obtaining translated versions of relevant Japanese legislation should access the EU DG Enterprise web-site, and related hyperlinks, at the following address:

http://europa.eu.int/comm/enterprise/electrequipment/japmra.htm

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Developments Affecting European ISDN Inter-working:
John Roche, Patton & Associates, Ltd.
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The European Union's R & TTE Directive removed requirements for Conformity Assessment of Telecommunications Terminal Equipment (TTE) to relevant Telecommunications Regulatory Standards.

Manufacturers are still encouraged to test their products to Voluntary Telecommunications Standards, using the appropriate Technical Basis for Regulation (TBR), to ensure proper interworking with the Network.

However TBR's that were drafted for ISDN Terminal Equipment prior to the R&TTE Directive may no longer ensure proper interworking with the Network because Network Carriers are in process of adding new enhancements to existing ISDN Network Equipment.

TBRs which cover European ISDN prior to the R&TTE Directive, currently reference the ETS 300 1XX series of standards. However the newer series of ETS 300 4XX standards, relating to higher layer conformity and supplementary services, are now being supported and/or implemented by many EU Network Carriers. For example 100% of British Telecom Central Offices now support the ETS 300 4XX series supplementary services.

Conformance Testing of existing EU ISDN compliant TTE to both sets of ETS 300 XXX standards is expensive. However a new document to identify a single set of test suites, which will satisfy both the new and the old (but still supported elsewhere) ISDN requirements is currently in preparation.

Readers can download the new ETS 300 4XX series of standards from the ETSI web site at the following URL.

http://www.etsi.org

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Industry Canada New Self Declaration of Conformity Scheme for TTE
Joe Jackson, Communications Certification Laboratory
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On January 2002, Industry Canada released new procedures for certification of terminal equipment in Canada. The new procedures provide for a self-declaration to be made by the manufacturer, or responsible party, declaring that the terminal equipment complies with Industry Canada specifications. A summary of the new process is as follows.

Terminal equipment must still be tested against the current Industry Canada CS-03 specifications. A recognized testing laboratory must perform the testing.

After the successful completion of the testing, a test report is prepared and the test report is kept in a compliance folder. The compliance folder must be kept by the declaring party and submitted to Industry Canada upon request.

A registration request and declaration of conformity is then submitted to Industry Canada to declare that the terminal equipment meets the applicable technical specifications. Industry Canada will then provide a confirmation and will list the equipment in the Industry Canada Terminal Equipment List. The registration request does require that a representative be listed in Canada who is capable of responding to enquiries and who can provide audit samples if requested.

The terminal equipment is marked showing compliance with Industry Canada, however Industry Canada does not assign the certification number as in the past. The new Industry Canada certification number format is IC:123-1234AB. The IC: shows that the product complies with the Industry Canada specifications. The 123 is a unique company number that Industry Canada does assign. The 1234AB is an alphanumeric unique product number that the manufacturer or responsible party assigns. All these components then make up the new Industry Canada certification number.

Readers may download the new Procedures for Declaration of Conformity and Registration of Terminal Equipment at the following URL:

http://www.cclab.com/CCLNEWS/OnlineNews20020307/DC01e.pdf

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Industry Canada New Self-Marking of TTE
Joe Jackson, Communications Certification Laboratory
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Industry Canada has implemented new self-marking procedures along with this self-declaration for certified telecommunications terminal equipment. A fee is still required for each sample marked with the Industry Canada certification number. The manufacturer or responsible party must make an initial request for the number of samples being marked with the Industry Canada certification number. The responsible party then must review the actual number of samples marked and report this to Industry Canada.

Readers can download the new Self-Marking of the Certification/Registration Number on Terminal Equipment Application Procedure and Agreement at the following URL

http://www.cclab.com/CCLNEWS/OnlineNews20020307/SelfMarking.pdf

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CCL SERVICE ANOUNCEMENTS
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Combined Industry Canada & FCC Part 68 Testing
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CCL can provide testing to the Industry Canada self declaration requirements. By combining the FCC Part 68 and Industry Canada testing together at the same time it can provide a savings to the manufacturer for North America regulatory approval.

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PATTON & ASSOCIATES SERVICE ANOUNCEMENTS
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Distance Learning Seminars Series Now Available
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Patton & Associates are currently offering Distance Learning Seminars. The seminar instructor is voice conferenced with all participants by use of a telephone bridge.

Seminar Materials are E Mailed to each attendee prior to the seminar in either Power Point, HTML, or Adobe Acrobat file formats. Seminar participants view the materials using their Personal Computer, and can interact with the instructor, during or after the seminar, through the voice conference bridge.

The following seminars are currently being offered to Corporate groups of single individuals.

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Continuing Compliance Management
John Roche, Patton & Associates, Ltd
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A seminar designed for all personnel who are involved with Continuation Compliance of product Safety, EMC, or Telecommunications. This seminar demonstrates the importance of Continuing Compliance and shows how manufacturers can take steps to ensure that their products continue to comply with Regulatory Standards of each and every country. One of the major problems for manufacturers is that changes occur to both regulatory standards and manufacturers' product build specifications , necessitating product retest to new standards in order to remain compliant.

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Understanding Europe's R&TTE Directive
John Roche, Patton & Associates, Ltd.
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A seminar designed for the Compliance Engineer wishing to certify products against the requirements of the European R & TTE Directive.

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Industry Standards & Regulatory Standards, Which Ones Apply
David Patton, Patton & Associates, Inc.
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The seminar identifies the differences between Regulatory Standards and Industry Standards and their separate roles in product development and certification.

Telecommunications products can be designed to meet all applicable Regulatory Standards, and still not interwork with the network or far end Terminal Equipment. Industry Standards provide the design engineer with what is needed to ensure that the product interworks with the Network and far end Terminal Equipment. However determining the proper Industry standard and how to verify that the product interworks properly can be a daunting task for the design engineer.

For further details on Patton & Associates E-Seminars please visit our web site at http://www.patton-assoc.com or contact David Patton at 928-771-2900.

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