EMC Directive - equipment emissions and immunity; module A or B+C, CE marking.
The Directive covers equipment, meaning apparatus (a finished appliance or combination of appliances made available on the market as a single functional unit intended for the end user) and fixed installations (Article 3). Components and subassemblies intended for incorporation by the end user, which are liable to generate electromagnetic disturbance or whose performance is liable to be affected by such disturbance, are treated as apparatus.
The essential requirement (Annex I point 1) is that electromagnetic emissions are limited to a level allowing radio, telecommunications and other equipment to operate as intended, and that the equipment has adequate immunity to disturbances expected in its intended use.
It does not apply (Article 2(2)) to radio equipment (Directive 1999/5/EC, now 2014/53/EU), aeronautical products under Regulation (EC) No 216/2008, amateur-radio equipment, equipment inherently incapable of generating emissions above an acceptable level and capable of operating without unacceptable degradation, or custom-built evaluation kits for research-and-development facilities; it also does not apply where EMC essential requirements are laid down more specifically by other Union legislation (Article 2(3)).
An EU declaration by the manufacturer of a component (for example a power supply, controller or relay containing electronics) under 2014/30/EU means that the manufacturer has demonstrated compliance with the essential requirements of Annex I in the intended electromagnetic environment and identified the harmonized standards applied.
A component declaration does not replace EMC assessment of the control cabinet or vehicle in which the component operates; the Commission guide identifies passive components (cables, fuses and circuit breakers without active components, electromechanical relays without active parts, and switches without active components) as inherently benign equipment for which an EMC declaration does not apply.
The manufacturer chooses the procedure under Article 14: internal production control (module A, Annex II), or EU type-examination by a notified body followed by conformity to type based on internal production control (module B + C, Annex III); module B may be limited to selected aspects of the essential requirements.
Conformity with harmonized standards whose references are published in the OJ EU gives a presumption of conformity with Annex I (Article 13); the EMC harmonized-standard list is published by the Commission under Implementing Decision (EU) 2019/1326, as amended.
The manufacturer prepares technical documentation, an EU declaration of conformity using the model in Annex IV (Article 15), and affixes CE marking to the apparatus or its data plate before placing it on the market (Articles 16–17). Apparatus intended solely for incorporation into a particular fixed installation and not otherwise made available on the market is not subject to CE-marking and EU-declaration obligations (Article 19); fixed installations are subject to documentation and good engineering practice (Annex I point 2).
Check whether the declaration lists EMC harmonized standards appropriate to the environment (for rolling stock additionally EN 50121-3-2, which is not itself harmonized under 2014/30/EU and applies through the TSI), whether it covers a complete product or a component for incorporation, and which installation conditions (shielding, filters, grounding) the manufacturer stated in the instructions as test assumptions.
