1.10.1 Australia and New Zealand
As of July 1997, the Australian Telecommunications Authority
(AUSTEL) and the Spectrum Management Agency (SMA) have merged to
form the Australian Communications Authority (ACA). The ACA is
responsible for Telecommunications, Radio Communications and EMC
regulations in Australia.
In New Zealand, the Ministry of Commerce is responsible for
Radiocommunications and EMC Regulations. Telecommunications
terminal equipment is subject to Permits issues by Telecom NZ.
EMC
New Zealand has had EMC regulation for some time, and Australia
introduced mandatory requirements for all electrical products
first offered for sale from the first of January 1997. While both
countries use the C-tick as a compliance mark, the regulations
for each country are currently independent. A recently signed MRA
between Australia and New Zealand will, at some time in the
future, result in mutual acceptance of technical and regulatory
requirements (EMC not Telecoms), thus requiring the establishment
of compliance in one country only.
The regulations in Australia and New Zealand are both based on
Declarations of Conformity, with the party responsible for the
declaration being resident in the applicable country.
Australia - Electromagnetic Compatibility Framework http://www.aca.gov.au/standards/emcbook/
New Zealand - Information on EMC requirements: http://www.med.govt.nz/rsm/emc.html
Australia
The Australian requirements are to:
* Establish sound technical grounds for compliance;
* Make a Declaration of Conformity;
* Prepare a compliance folder of technical construction file; and
* Label the product.
See http://www.aca.gov.au/standards/emc.htm
No time frame has been set for the introduction of immunity
standards.
Note: Where EMC requirements are a part of other regulators'
requirements, the ACA will accept the specific sector regulators
requirements in place of the ACA requirements. For
telecommunications, EMC has been removed from the new
Telecommunications Act. The EMC and Telecommunications frameworks
are applied independently. The AUSTEL requirement (AS3548 class
A) will continue until 1 January 1998, then be replaced with the
normal residential/commercial requirements.
There are two marks for use on products for denoting compliance
under the EMC Framework. These are:
1) The C-Tick mark: This mark is intended for general use on
products to declare compliance with EMC regulations. The C-tick
mark was also used by AUSTEL in place of the "AUSTEL
PERMITTED" on Telecommunications Products, permitted after
the beginning of April 1996 and before the end of June 1997.
2) The Regulatory Compliance Mark (RCM):
The Regulatory Compliance Mark is a general mark indicating
compliance with regulations. The use of the RCM is voluntary. The
RCM is accepted by the ACA as an alternative to the C-tick. The
rules for use of the mark are specified in joint Australian and
New Zealand Standard:
AS/NZS4417 Marking of Electrical products to indicate compliance
with regulations.
Currently there are three parts to the standard
Part 1: General Rules for use of the mark
Part 2: Specific requirements for electrical safety regulatory
applications
Part 3: Specific requirements for electromagnetic compatibility
applications
There is also activities to extend the mark to use on plumbing
products, radio transmitters, telecommunications and medical
products.
The RCM mark is currently accepted by some Australian electrical
safety regulators as an alternative to their certification marks.
The catch is that compliance with the requirements of the ACA
(EMC), AND certification by Electrical Safety regulator are
required before the RCM can be used. In fact, all parts of AS4417
relevant to a product must be complied with before the RCM can be
applied.
Both these marks can only be used in Australia with the
permission of the ACA. Pro Formas for application to use the
marks are obtained from the ACA.
URL:http://www.aca.gov.au/publications/forms/index.htm
New Zealand
In New Zealand, the regulations class equipment into levels, 0
being low- risk products, 1 being most other products except
transmitters. Declarations for level 1 must be lodged including a
fee with the Ministry.
Labelling for EMC compliance is voluntary in New Zealand,
Declarations are mandatory. Where labelling is used, the C-tick
mark and the RCM mark as listed for Australia are acceptable,
however the requirements for using the mark are slightly
different.
Contact:
Senior Technical Officer (Regulatory)
Communications Division, Ministry or Commerce
PO Box 2847, Wellington, NEW ZEALAND
Fax: (64)04-473 2489
Further information may be obtained from the New Zealand
Government
website, and specifically from the following documents:
For general
information
For Standards
Telecommunications Australia
The Telecommunications Act 1997, has made radical changes to the
way Telecommunications Customer Equipment and Customer Cabling is
regulated. Due to the implementation timeframes forced on the
industry as a result of late passage of legislation, many aspects
of the long term changes are still being finalized.
The regulations are based on labelling and compliance with
standards.
All equipment identified in Schedule 1 of the Telecommunications
Labelling Notice must be labelled as being compliant or
non-compliant with the standards nominated in the notice.
Copies and Explanatory document available from URL: http://www.aca.gov.au/legal/notice/EMCLabellingNotice.htm
To label equipment as compliant, there are pre-labelling and post
labelling requirements to comply with. The requirements include,
obtaining the required documents (test reports, certificates,
etc.) signing a Declaration of Conformity, providing adequate
user information and maintaining a compliance folder. The
regulations will primarily be enforced by auditing.
Marking
The regulations as amended in December, 1998 require labelling
with a Telecommunications Standards Compliance Mark (A-Tick) or
non-compliance mark. (The C-Tick is now not required to appear
together with the A-Tick). Where a Supplier's Code is used, it
will be the same for EMC and Telecoms.
(contributed by Chris Healy, healy@lucent.com)
AUSTEL Permitted Items
The ACA have issued a new Permitted Items standard ACA TS101-1998
which commenced on 1 July 1998. The standard ACA TS102-1998 was
adopted in December 1998 and supersedes ACA TS101. These
standards pave the way for the continued use and sales of
equipment which was compliant under the AUSTEL regulations.
ACA TS102-1998 effectively allows CE which had an AUSTEL Permit
to be labelled and sold in accordance with the Permit conditions
without further testing until 1 July 2001. As part of the
conditions of ACA TS102 the Manufacturer or Importer who is
authorising the labelling of the equipment must ensure that their
product complies with ACA TS001-1997 by the end of this period.
There are conditions to be met, for more information consult the
ACA's Website (www.aca.gov.au)
where you can download ACA TS102-1998.
The Telecommunication Labellinwww.aca.gov.aug (Customer Equipment
and Customer Cabling) Notice No 2 of 1997 has been amended by
Telecommunication Labelling (Customer Equipment and Customer
Cabling) Notice No 2 of 1997 (Amendment No. 1 & 2 of 1998).
These documents can also be downloaded from the ACA Website. For
specific information on the Permitted Items standard read Clauses
8, 21 and 26.
Agent of an Importer
The amendment to the Telecommunications Labelling Notice No. 2
now allows the Supplier Code of an "Agent of an
Importer" to be used. This is a break through for overseas
Manufacturers, who previously had to set up a separate Compliance
Folder for each Importer and use a different label depending on
who was Importing the goods. It is now possible for an Agent to
be appointed in Australia who will hold the Compliance Folder and
issue an authority to use their Supplier Code to each Importer.
However there are legal complications and overseas manufacturers
would be advised to consult with their Agents or seek advice.
Australian Communications Industry Forum
The Telecommunications ACT 1997 enables many of the aspects of
regulation of the industry to be performed by an industry body.
Standards development and other activities for Telecommunications
and Radiocommunications industries in Australia will be
co-ordinated by a newly formed industry body called the
Australian Communications Industry Forum (ACIF).
URL http://www.acif.org.au/
Summary of compliance requirements in a post Austel environment: http://www.austest.com.au/austel/austel.html
Website of EMC Technologies Pty Ltd: http://www.emctech.com.au
(contributed by Reuben Medding rmedding@meddingassoc.com.au)
1.10.2 Japan
Electrical Appliance and Material Safety Law
This Law, formerly called the Electrical Appliance and Material
Control Law ("DENTORI"), will be applied to many
electrical products (mainly, those for consumers) intended to be
used in Japan. It was amended in 1999, and the new Law comes into
effect from April 2001.
For "specific electrical appliances" ("Category
A" in the former Law), government certification and T-mark
under the former Law are abolished and third-party certification
and new E mark are introduced. Self-confirmation is permitted for
other products covered by the Law. In either case,
manufacturers/importers of electrical products have duty to
notify to METI (Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry), ensure
conformity to technical standards, holding the testing records,
and labeling the products.
METI (Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry)
http://www.meti.go.jp/english/
(Note: renamed from "Ministry of International Trade and
Industry")
"Electrical Appliance And Material Control Law" to
"Electrical Appliance
And Material Safety Law":
http://www5.cao.go.jp/otodb/english/houseido/hou/lh_03010.html
Telecom
JATE (Japan Approvals Institute for Telecommunications Equipment)
approval may be required for telecom equipments to be used in
Japan.
JATE - http://www.jate.or.jp/index-e.html
ITE
~~~
VCCI (Voluntary Control Council for Interference by Information
Technology
Equipment) defines voluntary EMC requirements for ITEs.
VCCI - http://www.vcci.or.jp/vcci/vcci_e/
(contributed by Tom Sato VEF00200@nifty.ne.jp)