I am not familiar with marine equipment. What does SOLAS mean?

SOLAS equipment means “Safety of Life at Sea.” This essentially means ships above a certain size and capability which have a legal duty to respond to safety and emergency calls. Vessels below a certain size do not. There is also a legal requirement for vessels greater than a certain size to incorporate mandatory safety features. These requirements are complex and you should refer to the SOLAS regulations for further details.

Does Blue book have legal force?

The Blue Book does not have legal force but is considered to have an important supporting role and it would be used as guidance for any interpretations and legal consideration of the New Approach Directives. Alan Binks Page 4 of 5 1st March 2010

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Do passive RFID tags fall under the RTTE Directive and require to be CE Marked?

Both readers and transponders shall bear the CE marking. In the case of small, passive transponders1 supplied independently of readers, it may be appropriate to apply the CE marking to packaging rather than the transponder itself. In all cases, appropriate user information should be supplied. In the case of small, passive transponders supplied independently of readers the user information may be provided with each batch of transponders delivered to the supplier using them for stock identification etc. For the purposes of Article 6.3 of the R&TTE Directive, the supplier of the product incorporating the transponder or to which the transponder is attached shall be regarded as the user of the transponder and not the eventual purchaser of the product itself.

Please also refer to TGN12 from the RTTECA, which is freely available from here: http://www.rtteca.com/html/download_area.htm

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Is radio communication equipment which is currently CE marked and EMC tested to R&TTE and ETSI specs and installed in vehicles or in portable mode affected?

Compliant Radio Equipment within a vehicle which is installed and powered by the vehicle battery would not generally require further testing, with the exception of exported and imported Vehicle Transients ISO 7637 if not previously tested. However, all technical information would need to be put together as a Technical File for scrutiny by the VCA if challenged.

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Is mobile installation a new requirement, how is this CE marked?

Mobile installations cannot fall under the fixed installations requirement as they do not fall under a pre-defined location. Mobile installations therefore follow the apparatus route to compliance. Trains for example are mobile apparatus and have their own harmonised standards.

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EMCTLA (EMC Test Lab Association) is hosting a EMC and Functional Safety workshop in association with TÜV SÜD Product Service on 28th June 2011 at the Henley-in-Arden Golf Club.

The aims of this Workshop:

Developments in civilian, medical and military standards* are now starting to make the design, verification and validation of the new discipline of "EMC for Functional Safety" mandatory.
The required methodology has been described in IEC TS 61000-1-2 and expanded into practical guidance by the IET's 2008 Guide - but exactly what to do, and exactly how to verify and validate the achievement of EMC for Functional Safety, are still to be established in real projects.
This workshop brings together senior designers and safety assessors with the aim of hammering out what should be done, and when and how to do it.
* IEC 61508 Ed.2, IEC 60601-1-2 Ed.3 and DEF STAN 59-411, respectively

For more information on the Agenda or to book your place please Click here .

Volcanic Ash – NOT AGAIN!!!!

A new volcanic eruption in Iceland yesterday triggered fear of a repeat of last year’s air chaos. Last year 100,000 flights were grounded and millions of passengers were stranded when Eyjafjallajokull erupted spreading ash over Northern Europe, with  much scepticism amongst the public as to whether authorities overreacted to the incident.

With over 50 years’ experience providing Environmental Testing and Consultancy services to the Aerospace Industry, TÜV SÜD Product Service experts are well aware of the risks associated with Volcanic Ash particles entering an aircraft system.

As these particular hazardous events occur relatively infrequently, Aircraft systems are not  designed to withstand Volcanic Ash particles. If Aircraft were to fly through ash clouds, there would be a significant risk of:

• Engine failure from the accumulation of ash on turbine blades caused by fusing of the silica particles at around 1100°C.
• Contamination within the passenger compartment as well as interference with internal systems and controls through ash particles penetrating the aircraft.
• Abrasion of all forward facing surfaces e.g. cockpit windows, control surfaces and wing leading edges.
• The aircraft becoming tail heavy due to ash particles coating the outside of the aircraft.

TÜV SÜD Product Service offers a range of sand and dust tests to a number of key players in the Aerospace Industry and is accredited to perform all the major industry standard tests including DEF STAN 07-55, MIL STD 810 and RTCA DO-160 from its one-stop test lab facilities in Fareham, UK.

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Can I just up-issue my Declaration of Conformity to show compliance against the New Directive?

Analyse if product meets the latest harmonised EMC standards,

If standards to which product was previously tested are out of date then a comparison needs to be made for each individual test to determine if there are now more onerous requirements (for example your product may not meet all of the requirements for Radiated Immunity due to increases in frequency ranges for test and some test levels)

Depending on the results of this gap analysis it might be possible to base compliance upon technical rationale. If not then further testing may be required.

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