Equipment Testing

Key Directives issued by the European Commission in this respect include:
The EMC Directive 89/336/EEC
The Low Voltage Directive 89/336/EEC
The CE Marking Directive 93/68/EEC
The Radio Equipment and Telecommunications Terminal Equipment Directive (1999/5/EC)
On 9 March 1999, the Council and the European Parliament adopted a Directive, defining new rules for the placing on the market and putting into service of Radio Equipment and Telecommunications Terminal Equipment. This Directive abolishes former Directive 98/13/EC and national approval regulations. Member States have to apply the Directive as of 8 April 2000

EMC, Safety and Type Approval Standards
The EMC Directive is reflected in the ETSI standard ETS 300 329 Ed 2, published June 1997
The Low Voltage Directive is reflected in EN 60950, pubished 1992 - 1997
The technical requirments reflect a range of relevant Common Technical Regulations, CTR’s. which are based upon Technical Basis for Regulation, TBR, documents. CTRs and TBRs are developed and facilitated by three European committees, ACTE, TRAC and DTAAB.   

Self-certification
Following recent changes in the European approval regime, manufacturers can now self-certify their equipment as meeting ETSI's technical requirements - however most still use the services of test houses to provide evidence of self certification and to limit the potential financial implications of later discovering their product was non-compliant ! 

ACTE - the Approvals Committee for Terminal Equipment, is responsible for overseeing the production of CTR’s. A CTR comprises a Commission Decision and the relevant TBR, which details the relevant specifications and tests required.

TRAC - the Technical Regulations Applications Committee, assists in the definition of the scope of and in drafting the technical content of the TBR (in collaboration with ETSI)

DTAAB - the DECT Type Approval Advisory Board, provides advice and support in the application of the DECT specific Type Approval regulations, identifying and rapidly solving any specific implementation problems that may arise. Members of DTAAB include national administrations, Type Approval authorities, test houses, telecommunication operators, standards bodies and equipment manufacturers.

DTAAB operates an FTP server which may be found at ftp.tdr.dk/pub/dtaab and which may be accessed with ID: anonymous, password <email>

For a succinct summary of the legal issues and routes for obtaining Type Approval within the EC, have a look at the Teltec page on this subject.   See also the excellent article 'Type Approvals for Terminal Equipment in Europe' from the journal 'Compliance Engineering - the magazine for international regulatory compliance'.

A further, comprehensive paper, describing the European regulatory environment and more, entitled "Challenges of DECT Generic Access Profile Protocol Test" by Helmut Zollner, may be found here

For a UK perspective on the implementation of the EC Type Approval and a useful glossary of terms specific to this area see the UK government's Radiocommunications Agency page about this.

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DECT-specific CTRs
The specific documents relevant to DECT include the following CTR/TBR’s:

CTR 6 (based on TBR 6) General Terminal Attachment Requirements: Radio Aspects (base standard ETS 300 176 Ed 2)

CTR 10 (based on TBR 10) General Terminal Attachment Requirements: Telephony Applications (base standard ETS 300 176 Ed 2)

CTR 22 (based on TBR 22) General Terminal Attachment Requirements: Generic Access Profile (base standard ETS 300 494 and ETS 300 497 Ed 2)

Other CTR’s at the draft stage (early 1998) include:

CTR 36 DECT/GSM Interworking (ie DECT base stations interfaced via the GSM A-interface to a GSM network infrastructure) (base standard ETS 300 702)

CTR 39 DECT/GSM Dual Mode Terminal Equipment (based upon the DECT and GSM TBRs)

CTR 40 DECT/ISDN Interworking (base standards ETS 300 758 and EN 301 614)

To obtain CE marking a DECT product must conform to the relevant Type Approval tests, as well as meeting the necessary EMC and safety standards. A range of test houses offer such testing; some of these are listed below.

National Regulations
In addition to the above common European regulations, certain national regulations also have to be met, reflecting for example the differences in the national PSTN network interface at the consumer premises.

Product Approval Regulations Outside Europe
As DECT products are increasingly finding acceptance outside of Europe, so national regulations are being introduced. In many cases these specify that the products must meet the European regulations described above, where appropriate with national variations - eg a revised frequency band. In support of such requirements, ETSI is producing new specifications and/or working with national regulators in order to ensure a global harmonisation of specifications and regulations.

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