Upcoming Changes for Wireless Equipment in the 5 GHz Band EN 301 893

By Deniz Demirci, Senior Wireless/EMC Engineer, NTS Silicon Valley Manufacturers of wireless devices operating in the 5 GHz bands intended sale in the EU should take note of some important changes.Draft version of EN 301 893 V2.0.7 has been published in the ETSI web site in order to align with the Article 3.2 - Essential Requirements of Radio Equipment Directive 2014/53/EU.Currently, 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 301 893 V1.8.1 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.It is very likely that any RED version of EN 301 893 will not be ready and will not be listed in the OJ on June 13, 2017. The version V2.0.7 of the standard is still in review process and is scheduled to be published on July 8, 2017. The standard is expected to be listed on the Official Journal of the European Union on October 21, 2017.With the absence of this product standard, there is a possibility that EN 301 893 V1.8.1 may be listed in the OJ with additional Adaptivity and Receiver Blocking requirements aligned with 301 893 V2.0.7 in order to presume compliance with RED until the new version of the standard is published.Otherwise, after June 13, 2017, any 5 GHz radio device must have a Notified Body Opinion/Type Examination Certificate in order to presume compliance with the Article 3.2 - essential requirements of Directive 2014/53/EU - RED. Which means that, overwhelming number of products on the market will require Notified Body Opinion.The Notified bodies also have to follow Article 3.2 of RED in their assessments and will ask for evidence of presumption of conformity which will include Adaptivity and Receiver Blocking tests.Our recommendation to the manufacturers is to schedule the tests for the new requirements as soon as possible since the test methods are significantly different.Some of the major changes are:

1. Adaptivity has 3 different mandatory Interference signal type (AWGN, OFDM and LTE). Medium Access test methods have changed significantly. There are new procedures for Frame Based (other than 802.11) devices.
2. The Receiver Blocking requirement is a new performance test and unconditionally applicable to all radio equipment.

Please contact us at sales@nts.com or call 800-270-2516 for additional details and how to test your product and update test reports for Radio Equipment Directive.