Due diligence for the small PC manufacturer [EMC Directive]

This paper is directed at the EMC considerations of the small PC manufacturer. Whatever the size of the business the problem of due diligence is basically the same and this is the need to provide an auditable declaration of compliance (DoC) for the minimum expenditure. As with income tax, avoidance is illegal but minimising the amount paid within the rules of the inland revenue is something that everyone is entitled to do. Similarly with EMC compliance, to simply ignore the EMC Directive or worse to apply an invalid CE Mark is illegal but it is very reasonable to seek methods to reduce expenditure whilst still maintaining due diligence. The Directive provides 2 routes to compliance. The first, which is the self-certification route is the most popular for IT products. It requires that the product be tested to harmonised European standards that have been listed in the Official Journal (OJ) of the European Commission. In the case of IT equipment there is a product specific emission standard EN55022 and the light industrial, residential generic standard EN50082-1