European Council directive on EMC, the latest guidelines on the application hereto, the standards to be applied an its enforcement in the European Economic Area, especially in Germany

This paper deals with the application and enforcement of the European EMC directive which is effective in the whole European Economic Area (EEA). The EEA comprises in total eighteen states. Outside the EEA the directive is also effective in Switzerland. After a short introduction to the EMC directive, the different bodies involved in the EMC field as defined in the directive are explained. Special attention is given to the “Guidelines of the European Commission on the Application of the EMC Directive”, which is in practice as important as the directive itself. Following this a flow chart for the certification procedure is presented. A table of different product families together with the respective EMC standards is given whose limits for RFI emissions and susceptibility to interfering RFI must be met. Finally the enforcement practice of the German authorities and their experience after a year of effecting the EMC directive are described