Hi Gail and Chris,
Chris, you are absolutely correct. There is no "grandfather" clause
in the sense that Gail's associate has indicated. There was in fact a
four year transition period for implementation of the EMC Directive
(from 1992 to 1/1/1996) during which time manufacturers were expected
to take the steps to either modify their existing products (if
necessary) to meet the requirements of the Directive or to remove them
from the market.
The only "grandfathering" is for used or second-hand products that
were actually sold and first put into use in the EU before 1/1/96. If
those products met the regulations that existed at the time they were
first put into use, they were legal then and continue to be legal
today. If used or second-hand products are taken out of service,
reconditioned, and put back into service, they are still legal as long
as they are reconditioned to the same condition as when they were new.
HOWEVER, if used or second-hand products are taken out of service,
RECONFIGURED in some way, and put back into service, the EMC Directive
will probably apply because the products are no longer in the same
condition they were originally when they were "legal". Also, the EMC
Directive applies to any used or second-hand product that is imported
into the EU from a country outside the EU regardless of when it was
manufactured.
Jim Hulbert
Senior Engineer-EMC
Pitney Bowes
______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: Application of Directives
Author: Chris Dupres <chris_dup...@compuserve.com> at SMTPGWY
List-Post: emc-pstc@listserv.ieee.org
Date: 7/31/98 1:54 AM
Hi Gail.
You wrote:
<He has claimed that at his previous company
products were shipped into the EEA after the implementation of the EMC and
Low Voltage Directives without compliance to these Directives. ... snip>
It's very simple, any goods placed 'on the market' after January 1st 1996
must comply with the EMC Directive., and any goods placed on the market
after Jan 1st 1997 must comply with the EMC Directive AND the Low Voltage
Directive.
Existing products had to be redesigned if necessary, or taken off the
market.
In the UK the enforcing authorities did allow a period of grace for items
already 'in the supply chain'. This was intended to allow any stock in
warehouses to be sold without penalty, but that was a short term 'one-off'.
Remember that the point of the Directive is to ensure that ALL goods placed
on the market in Europe are built to the same standard so as to ensure that
no state could refuse to take goods on technical grounds. To this end any
goods which didn't meet the standards would be denied a market in Europe, or
would be cheaper, in both cases the market place would be distrorted
thereby creating an uncompetitive situation - exactly what the EEA is meant
to prevent.
A twopence worth, perchance.
Chris Dupres
Surrey, UK.
