Hello Doug,

The RoHS 2 Directive, 2011/65/EU is now a CE marking directive. Its scope 
covers some wires and cables defined as cables rated less than 250 V that serve 
as a connection or extention to electronic equipment, either to the outlet or 
between pieces of equipment. As such, affected cables must be CE marked to meet 
the requirements.

Regards,
Ted Eckert
Compliance Engineer
Microsoft Corporation
ted.eck...@microsoft.com<mailto:ted.eck...@microsoft.com>

The opinions expressed are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my 
employer.

From: Douglas Nix [mailto:d...@mac.com]
Sent: Tuesday, December 3, 2013 9:12 AM
To: EMC-PSTC@LISTSERV.IEEE.ORG
Subject: [PSES] "CE Marking" for wire and cable?

Colleagues,

For many years it was not possible to CE Mark wire and cable products because 
they did not meet the basic definitions for apparatus under the LVD. I am 
seeing increasing numbers of these products bearing CE Marks, and I don't 
clearly understand the basis for this change in marking.

For reference, 2006/95/EC states in Article 1:

Article 1
For the purposes of this Directive, 'electrical equipment' means
any equipment designed for use with a voltage rating of between
50 and 1 000 V for alternating current and between 75 and
1 500 V for direct current, other than the equipment and
phenomena listed in Annex II.

Annex II
Equipment and Phenomena outside the Scope of this Directive

  *   Electrical equipment for use in an explosive atmosphere
  *   Electrical equipment for radiology and medical purposes
  *   Electrical parts for goods and passenger lifts
  *   Electricity meters
  *   Plugs and socket outlets for domestic use
  *   Electric fence controllers
  *   Radio-electrical interference
  *   Specialised electrical equipment, for use on ships, aircraft or railways, 
which complies with the safety provisions drawn up
  *   by international bodies in which the Member States participate.
No further definition of "electrical equipment" is found in the Directive. Note 
that wire and cable are not specifically excluded in Annex II.

Referring to the International Electrotechnical Vocabulary (IEV), IEC 
60050<http://www.electropedia.org/iev/iev.nsf/welcome?openform>  was the next 
logical step in trying to understand what is covered. The IEV does not contain 
a definition for "electrical equipment", but defines "equipment" 
151-11-25<http://www.electropedia.org/iev/iev.nsf/display?openform&ievref=151-11-25>:

equipment
single apparatus or set of devices or apparatuses, or the set of main devices 
of an installation, or all devices necessary to perform a specific task
Note - Examples of equipment are a power transformer, the equipment of a 
substation, measuring equipment.

"Apparatus" is defined 
151-11-22<http://www.electropedia.org/iev/iev.nsf/display?openform&ievref=151-11-22>:

apparatus
device or assembly of devices which can be used as an independent unit for 
specific functions
Note - In English, the term "apparatus" sometimes implies use by skilled 
persons for professional purposes.

The definition for "device" is found at 
151-11-20<http://www.electropedia.org/iev/iev.nsf/display?openform&ievref=151-11-20>:

device
material element or assembly of such elements intended to perform a required 
function
Note - A device may form part of a larger device.

Finally, the definition for a "component", which does not appear in any of the 
preceding definitions, is found at 
151-11-21<http://www.electropedia.org/iev/iev.nsf/display?openform&ievref=151-11-21>:

component
constituent part of a device which cannot be physically divided into smaller 
parts without losing its particular function

Based on these definitions, it seems clear to me that wire and cable constitute 
components, and are therefore not devices, apparatus or equipment and are 
therefore NOT subject to CE Marking. In addition to this, a quick search for 
Declarations of Conformity on a number of wire and cable web sites turned up NO 
DECLARATIONS.

With the withdrawal of much of the HD 21 and HD 22 series of harmonization 
documents and their replacement with the EN 50525 series of standards, will 
there be a change that requires the CE Marking of these products? If yes, what 
is the legal rationale, since the definition of apparatus under the LVD still 
does not seem to include these products?

>From the perspective of agencies assessing the compliance of products with the 
>LVD, what is the requirement regarding markings on wire and cable products 
>beyond the basic requirement for wire to be marked with the rated voltage and 
>gauge?

Thanks in advance for the assistance!

Doug Nix
-
----------------------------------------------------------------

This message is from the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society emc-pstc 
discussion list. To post a message to the list, send your e-mail to 
<emc-p...@ieee.org<mailto:emc-p...@ieee.org>>

All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: 
http://www.ieee-pses.org/emc-pstc.html

Attachments are not permitted but the IEEE PSES Online Communities site at 
http://product-compliance.oc.ieee.org/ can be used for graphics (in well-used 
formats), large files, etc.

Website: http://www.ieee-pses.org/
Instructions: http://www.ieee-pses.org/list.html (including how to 
unsubscribe)<http://www.ieee-pses.org/list.html>
List rules: http://www.ieee-pses.org/listrules.html

For help, send mail to the list administrators:
Scott Douglas <emcp...@radiusnorth.net<mailto:emcp...@radiusnorth.net>>
Mike Cantwell <mcantw...@ieee.org<mailto:mcantw...@ieee.org>>

For policy questions, send mail to:
Jim Bacher <j.bac...@ieee.org<mailto:j.bac...@ieee.org>>
David Heald <dhe...@gmail.com<mailto:dhe...@gmail.com>>

-
----------------------------------------------------------------
This message is from the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society emc-pstc 
discussion list. To post a message to the list, send your e-mail to 
<emc-p...@ieee.org>

All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at:
http://www.ieee-pses.org/emc-pstc.html

Attachments are not permitted but the IEEE PSES Online Communities site at 
http://product-compliance.oc.ieee.org/ can be used for graphics (in well-used 
formats), large files, etc.

Website:  http://www.ieee-pses.org/
Instructions:  http://www.ieee-pses.org/list.html (including how to unsubscribe)
List rules: http://www.ieee-pses.org/listrules.html

For help, send mail to the list administrators:
Scott Douglas <emcp...@radiusnorth.net>
Mike Cantwell <mcantw...@ieee.org>

For policy questions, send mail to:
Jim Bacher:  <j.bac...@ieee.org>
David Heald: <dhe...@gmail.com>

Reply via email to