Update on Mutual Recognition

Agreements

February 7, 2006

2

Market Access Under the MRAsAGREEMENTS IN FORCE PROGRESS PENDING

Europe 25 Countries

APEC Phase II Singapore Hong Kong

EFTA Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein

CITEL Brazil Mexico

APEC Phase 1 Canada Singapore Australia New Zealand Chinese Taipei Hong Kong Korea

Japan

Exchange of Letters Acceptance of Test Reports

MRA Certification

APEC Phase II Canada

APEC Phase I Not anticipating new activity anytime

soon

3

EMC DirectiveTimeline for Implementation

December 31, 2004 – Revised EMC Directive published January 20, 2005 – Member States have two years to incorporate new EMCD into national legislation July 20, 2007 – 2004/108/EC repeals 89/336/EEC •2004/108/EC can be applied

July 20, 2009 – Application of new Directive is mandatory and apparatus under 89/336/EEC cannot be sold on the market

4

EMC Directive Revision

39 AmendmentsCompetent Bodies will no longer existCABs under the EMCD will become Notified BodiesIncreased Surveillance of NBsUse of a NB will not be required under any circumstances but can be used anyway

GuidelinesOngoing discussions/meetings Next draft (very close to final version) will probably be available next month

5

APEC – Phase IKorea

14 U.S. CABs Requirements are listed at http://approval.rrl.go.kr.eng/ (Follow the link to Regulations and Technical Criteria. There are separate links to terminal, radio, and IT equipment.)CABs must test to the latest Korean requirements, even if their scope of accreditation has not been updated

Hong Kong2 U.S. CABsHong Kong standards can be viewed at http://www.ofta.gov.hk/en/standards/main.html

6

APEC – Phase IISingapore

Accreditation process for 4 U.S. CABs is expected to be complete in Feb 06Qualified CABs will be notified by NIST and will submit application and relevant documentation Designations expected March/April 2006

Hong KongLetters have been exchanged for Phase II, but current structure doesn’t allow for private domestic or foreign certification bodies. Hong Kong is in the process of preparing to accept private-sector certification bodiesTimeline unknown

7

APEC Info

Information for U.S. CABs interested in designation and/or requirements under the APEC MRA is available at this site:

http://ts.nist.gov/ts/htdocs/210/gsig/mra_rebuild_apec.htm

8

Japanese Authorities

Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA)Ministry of Internal Affairs & Communication (MIC)Voluntary Control Council for Interference (VCCI)Voluntary EMC Laboratory Accreditation Center (VLAC)

9

US- Japan: Current Situation for Acceptance of Test Results

No agreement exists today FCC only accepts test results for unintentional radiators and industrial, scientific, and medical (ISM) equipment from labs accredited by foreign accreditation bodies under the terms of a government-to-government MRA or through a parallel exchange of lettersVCCI accepts foreign test reports from its U.S. members, but the approval process is burdensome and time-consuming for the labs who must submit extensive paperwork/data for each test facility

10

US- Japan: Proposal for Acceptance of Test Results

Parallel exchange of letters between USTR and MOFA currently in draft. FCC will accept test results for unintentional radiators and ISM equipment from Japanese labs accredited by VLAC.VCCI will accept test reports from its U.S. members who are accredited by NVLAP or A2LA -- but without all the paperwork. Will still have to pay membership fee to VCCI.

11

US-Japan MRA - Pending

Draft text has been agreed to in principle by USTR, FCC, NIST, MOFA, and MIC. Scope includes telephone terminal equipment and radio equipmentMRA will only apply to equipment that is subject to certificationUSG support for the MRA is contingent upon the exchange of letters for acceptance of test results

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CITEL - MexicoSecurity and Prosperity Partnership of North America

Goal is to keep borders closed terrorism and open to trade SPP includes implementation of the MRA

PEC – Mexico’s Conformity Assessment Procedure Published Aug 05. Entered into force Oct 05. Applies to 6 of Mexico’s technical standards (NOMs).

NAFTA Technical Standards Subcommittee (TSSC)TSSC Meeting in MarchReview of Conformity Assessment ProceduresTraceability Issues

Expectation that MRA will be implemented with Mexico in the next year or so is medium to low.

13

CITEL - BrazilANATEL - in the process of getting their own house in order

6 EMC labs accredited by INMETRO, 7 more pending Continue to update standards, test methods, and general requirements3 Equipment Categories: Terminal, Radio, NetworkAdopting procedures for designating domestic labsNext update in May at CITELExpectation is that MRA will be implemented, eventually. May have a transition period.

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Laboratory Accreditation under the MRAs

NIST National Voluntary Conformity Assessment System Evaluation (NVCASE) Program is a vehicle to recognize qualified U.S. accreditation bodies who accredit U.S. CABs

NIST identified NACLA as a suitable alternative to the NVCASE Program.

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Laboratory Accreditation under the MRAs

Other alternatives…Must be MRA signatory, in good standing, to a laboratory accreditation cooperation that is in full conformance with ISO/IEC 17011 as verified by evaluation and assessment by peer accreditation bodies Must meet specific technical and administrative requirements of foreign governments under MRAsOther requirements

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WorkshopsInternational MRA Workshop - Oct 3-7, 2005

First workshop to include EU, APEC, and CITEL 160 representatives from government, industry, and academia (5 continents, 3 regions, and 19 countries)http://ts.nist.gov/ts/htdocs/210/gsig/mra/Workshop/announcement.htmFeedback

Future WorkshopsANSI-NIST Options for Action Summit

• http://www.ansi.org/news_publications/news_story.aspx?menuid=7&articleid=1133

MRA Workshop at NIST, Spring 2007 (tentative)

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MRA-Related Meetings

US-EU Joint Cmte Mtg – February 3 (DVC)NAFTA TSSC – March 2-3, Mexico CityEMC WP & ECACB – March 6-7, BrusselsR&TTE CA – April 11, ParisUS-EU Joint Sectoral Cmte Mtg – April (TBD) APEC Tel MRA – April 24-28, CalgaryCITEL MRA – May 23-26, Santo Domingo

What’s Next?

Mary Jo DiBernardoNational Institute of Standards and Technology

Phone: 301-975-5503 E-mail: maryjo.dibernardo@nist.gov

Web: http://www.nist.gov