Recent developments in European EMC standards

The drive to provide a framework of relevant standards forming the basis of declarations of conformity with the EMC Directive 89/336/EEC has resulted in considerable progress. Although there is an insufficient number of product specific standards to deal adequately with the range of electrical and electronic equipment, the introduction of the generic standards offers manufacturers the option of following the standards route to conformity, i.e. via Article 10.1 of the Directive, which is generally accepted to be preferred. However there is a considerable amount of activity in developing product standards which are derived from basic standards. These basic standards, to which all other standards refer, have been amended and extended such that there is now a reasonably solid foundation of test methods, procedures and levels for most electromagnetic phenomena considered relevant to the EMC Directive. The paper reviews the current position with regard to published standards and reports on impending developments