Conformity Magazine - April 2008 - (Page 50)

required. Telecom network connection brings a new round of requirements. Note that often telecom and intentional transmitter requirements will be country- or region-specific. And, if your product targets the U. S. telecom central office, be prepared for extensive electromagnetic and environmental testing to meet the operating companies’ NEBS (Network Equipment Building System) requirements. These will have to be documented in a lengthy and detailed report. In Europe, products must meet the requirements of the EMC Directive, and usually, the LVD (Low Voltage Directive), which governs product safety. The EMC Directive introduces something new to the emissions requirements found in the United States and Canada, which are concerned with protecting communications by limiting interference— immunity. In addition to limiting interference, the Directive requires that the equipment “operate as intended” in its expected electromagnetic environment. Demonstrating this involves approximately a half-dozen additional tests, including radiated and conducted immunity, electrostatic discharge, fast and slow transients, power dips and interrupts, powerline harmonic current measurements, and mains voltage fluctuations and flicker. This may seem daunting at first glance. It is important that the laboratory you select be able to help you by figuring out what is applicable to your product, performing the necessary tests, and helping you interface with the applicable certification bodies. Here are some laboratory features to consider: • Facilities and Equipment • Accreditations • Personnel • Reporting Your first concern will be whether a lab can perform all or just some of the work you require. One stop shopping—having all the required work on your product performed under one roof—has its obvious attractions. Over the past 20 years, labs have tended to expand their services. It used to be that safety and EMC labs didn’t often mix; now it is very common to find laboratories offering both at the same facility. This may be done directly, or though alliances with other organizations where the laboratory acts as a test site or an agent. Accreditations—Why are they important? A lab’s capacity to do all a product requires involves accreditations, personnel, and equipment. The intricacies of lab accreditation alone merit an article in themselves, but the basics are easy enough to understand. Many laboratories will claim accreditation to IEC Standard 17025, “General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories” for a number of different standards. What does this mean? It means that the laboratory 50 Conformity April 2008 has undergone a standards-specific competence assessment by a nationally recognized impartial third party, such as, in the United States, A2LA or NVLAP. Sometimes this merely provides a certain amount of reassurance; often it is essential. Here are two examples where accreditation is a must. First, for equipment claiming compliance to the FCC’s rules under a Declaration of Conformity, the measurements must be carried out by a laboratory which is accredited to ISO/IEC 17025 (FCC §2.948(d)). Second, where international approvals are required, as is often the case with telecom or intentional radiators, accreditation of the test laboratory is effectively mandatory. When two countries have a memorandum of understanding concerning accreditation, the international accreditation bodies will recognize data from a lab accredited by their corresponding accreditor. The agreement runs between the accrediting bodies. For example, A2LA (a U.S. accreditor) has an agreement with NARTA in Australia. This facilitates the acceptance of telecom test data from an accredited US lab by the Australian telecommunications authorities. A second form of accreditation is to ISO Guide 65, “General requirements for bodies operating product certification systems.” In working with electronic products in the United States, you will commonly encounter two types of ISO Guide 65 certified facilities: Telecommunication Certification Bodies(TCBs) and safety organizations (Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratories, or NRTLS for domestic safety, as well as members of the internationally based CBscheme). This too is an accreditation, although the scope is different than the measurement facility evaluation of ISO/ IEC 17025 – operation of a certification scheme – as are the accrediting authorities. For example, in the United States, the TCBs are accredited under the auspices of ANSI to do FCC certification for devices requiring that form of authorization, while NRTLs are accredited by OSHA, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Other, more specialized recognitions lie outside of the formal ISO/IEC 17025 and ISO Guide 65 scheme. For example, in the world of NEBS, Verizon imposes its own scheme of accreditation through its Independent Test Laboratory (ITL) program to assure itself of the validity of NEBS data. The details of what accreditations and scope a laboratory should have to meet your needs may be straightforward or complicated. As noted above, it is not essential to have everything in-house if the laboratory has alliances and working relationships with other organizations. Equipment and Facilities Labs can vary widely in the way they implement their test facilities, especially in the area of electromagnetic compatibility. Some of these variations are the result of operational philosophy, as in the degree of automation employed, while others are more physical:

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Conformity Magazine - April 2008 NewsBreaks Editor’s Note Mandatory Analog Cellular Service Ends FCC Releases Quarterly Reports on Consumer Inquiries and Complaints New Standards List Released for The EU’s Low Voltage Directive FDA Issues Notification on Unretrieved Device Fragments FDA Offers Guidance on Waivers for In-Vitro Diagnostic Devices ESD Open Forum Emerging Issues in Standards Challenges in Testing Design Fundamentals Focus on... New Products Product Reviews Premarket Approval Application Guidance Issued by FDA New Jersey Enacts Electronic Waste Recycling Regulations A New U.S. Standard for Workstation and Computer Design Might the CPSC Hold Retailers Accountable for Safe Products? CPSC Loses “Sole Toy Tester” CPSC Actions in the News IEC Standards Update UL Standards Update Telcordia Standards Update From Our “You Can’t Make This Stuff Up” Department Looking Back: Items from Past Issues of Conformity Advertisers

Conformity Magazine - April 2008

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