Upcoming Changes for Wireless Equipment in the 2.4 GHz Band EN 300 328

By Deniz Demirci, Senior Wireless/EMC Engineer at NTS Silicon Valley

EN 300 328 V2.1.1 was harmonized and listed in the Official Journal of the European Union under Directive 2014/53/EU for RED (Radio Equipment Directive) on January 13, 2017. This version of the standard covers the essential requirements of article 3.2 of RED for 2.4 GHz ISM band WiFi, Bluetooth and other Wideband transceivers.Manufacturers of these type of equipment can still use R&TTE Directive 1999/5/EC (Radio and Telecommunication Directive) and it’s harmonized standard EN 300 238 V1.9.1 in their Declaration of Conformities (DoC) until June 13, 2017.After this date, manufacturers of any radio device who enters any country which requires CE marking, have to use RED (Radio Equipment Directive 2014/53/EU) in their DoC.This is applicable for all new products as well as for products that are currently being marketed and intended to be sold after this date. Products which DoCs are not updated by this date, should not be sold in the European Union.Manufacturers should follow EN 300 328 V2.1.1 requirements and update their test reports for their current products as soon as possible since there is significant change in the essential requirements;

• The Receiver Blocking Requirement is unconditionally applicable to all radio equipment regardless of receiver category or adaptivity capability. This is a major change from the previous version of the standard.

Since the Receiver Blocking was conditionally applicable to the adaptive equipment only and the test methods as well as the performance criteria were different, most products may have never been evaluated for this requirement before.Note: After June 13, 2017, any radio device which the standards are not yet harmonized and listed in the Official Journal of the European Union, must have a Notified Body Opinion/Type Examination Certificate in order to presume compliance with the essential requirements in Article 3.2 of Directive 2014/53/EU - RED.For more details and information on how to update test reports for the Radio Equipment Directive, other specification interoperability scenarios or test, design and engineering help is available by contacting NTS at 800-270-2516 or emailing sales@nts.com.