New radio equipment directive 2014/53/EU replaces R&TTE directive

This directive entered into force on 11th June 2014 and the Member States are required to have implemented it by 13th June 2016. 1995/5/EC will cease to be valid on that day. Compared with the previous R&TTE directive 1995/5/EC, the scope of the new 2014/53/EU is more precisely defined. Whereas the R&TTE directive covered radio equipment and telecommunications terminal equipment, the new 2014/53/EU only applies for radio equipment. As landline equipment continues to be covered by the new low voltage directive 2014/35/EU and the EMC directive 2014/30/EU, this limitation provides clearer separation of the different legal frameworks. "Affected companies/distributors should comply with the CE regulations specified in 2014/53/EU in order to avoid penalty payments," said Wolfram Ziehfuss, MD of FBDi e.V. Strictly necessary measures include:

• CE marking on the product, including the identification number of the notified body if applicable;
• an operating manual in the official language of the country of final use is mandatory;
• a declaration of conformity - this can also be stored on the Internet in a place where it can be accessed, i.e., the complete text does not necessarily need to be contained in the user information.

In this context, the FBDi points out that the EMC directive (2004/108/EC) and the low voltage directive (2006/95/EC) will also be superseded by their successors (EMC directive 2014/30/EU and LVD directive 2014/35/EU) on 20th April 2016 as part of this implementation package. New legislative framework In the scope of Decision 768/2008/EC, existing EC directives are being rewritten and revised in order to adapt them to the regulations of the legislative framework and thus ensure the implementation of the new legal framework. This will result in increased transparency and legal clarity for all economic players (manufacturers, importers, dealers), even though it involves tightening of the regulations. For example, the obligations of the dealers and importers are outlined more precisely and there is also a stricter product labelling obligation.