WGRR 26 - 30 January 1998,Groningen, The Netherlands.

The following subjects were considered by the Working Group:
- The implementation and consequences of the Decision on mutual recognition of conformity
- Revision of ERC Report 12
- Revision of ERC/REC 21-16
- Maritime items
- Preparations for WRC 99
- New ERC Decisions for a exemption from individual licensing of certain radio equipment
- Short Range Business Radio
- One Stop Shopping, Proposal for a satellite OSS project
- Fees and charges
- New ERC Decisions on free circulation Revision of ERC/REC 21-15
- Regulatory issues on UMTS
- Matters concerning radio amateurs
- Enforcement
- Progress on ERO studies on legislation, conformity assessment in the CEE countries and Free Circulation arrangements with other Regional Organisations
- CEPT/EC preparations for GMPCS MoU

The implementation and consequences of the Decision on mutual recognition of conformity

WGRR took note of the progress that was made with the implementation of ERC Decision (97)10 namely with the establishment of a register on testing laboratories, a database of type approvals and a register of conformity assessment bodies. Only few administrations had yet informed about their testing laboratories. As soon as sufficient information is available, it will be published on the ERO homepage. A form for exchanging data on approved equipment was developed and is available on the ERO homepage. Codes were issued to a number of conformity assessment bodies and this information will be published on the ERO homepage in due course.

Revision of ERC Report 12

WGRR adopted a revision of ERC Report 12 on Application guides and explanatory notes to support the ERC Decision regime of mutual recognition of conformity assessment procedures including marking of radio equipment. A revision was necessary because of the adoption of the ERC Decision on mutual recognition of conformity assessment ERC/DEC/(97)10.

WGRR also adopted as a part of the Report a list of equipment identifications which can be used in order to comply with ERC/DEC/(97)10.

Revision of ERC/REC 21-16

The text of this Recommendation, dealing with Conformity assessment for land mobile satellite service terminals, covering Inmarsat-C, Inmarsat-M, EutelTRACS, Inmarsat-D, Inmarsat-phone, EMS-Prodat, EMS-MSSAT and ARCANET suitcase terminals was amended by RR9 and a revised text presented to the RR meeting. Main purpose of the proposed amendments to the Recommendation is to align it with the relevant ETS/TBRs. WGRR approved the revised Recommendation. The text will be circulated for comments to the CEPT administrations during a period of 6 weeks.

Maritime items

WRC-97

In general, the maritime part of WRC-97 had been a great success for CEPT. All maritime CEPT proposals had been adopted by the conference. Some difficulties were the search and rescue database, which may have consequences to the ship station licensing and the procedures for cancelling false alerts which seem to contain some defects. Further, the revised table of maritime VHF-channels requires a European harmonised approach.

Watchkeeping matters

Resolution 331 (revised by WRC-97) calls for an ITU-R study on some problems encountered in the transition from old distresss and safety system to GMDSS. One of the issues to be studied is, whether voice calling on maritime VHF is needed and on which channel voice calling should take place.

Recognition of foreign maritime radio certificates

RR2 is working on a new ERC Recommendation dealing with the recognition of foreign certificates. The new Recommendation will contain a common format of the certificates and include the possibility for non-CEPT countries to participate in the same way as T/R 61-02.

Draft ECTRA Recommendation on maritime accounting authorities

Concerns were raised with regard to the complexity of the procedures described in the draft ECTRA Recommendation. Nevertheless it was decided not to forward any comments to ECTRA, recognising that the issue of accounting is not in the mandate of WGRR.

AIS transponder

WRC-97 has revised Appendix S18 of the Radio Regulations in such a way that two VHF channels have been designated for an automatic ship identification and surveillance system (AIS). Unfortunately, due to resistance by USA, the text contains a footnote to the effect that these channels (161.975 MHz and 162.025 MHz, which are the upper legs of channels 87 and 88) are to be used for AIS unless other frequencies are designated on a regional basis for this purpose.

WGRR was of the opinion that the use of AIS channels should be harmonised in Europe and this should be done by means of an ERC Decision.

Furthermore, WGRR decided to request CPG to consider the coordination of AIS channels with the other regional telecommunications organisations. This should be done by means of a letter drawing the attention of regional organisations to the decisions of WRC-97 on AIS channels and asking how the administrations participating in these organisations intend to deal with this issue.

Progress on maritime workshop

WGRR noted the revised programme and concluded that preparations for the workshop cannot be started before the date and venue of the workshop is known. Since the preparations were foreseen to require some time, it was proposed to postpone the workshop to late May 1998.

EutelTRACS in the Maritime Service - Boatracs

Since free circulation of Euteltracs terminals is already allowed in land vehicles, there is no need to restrict it in the maritime service. A formal ERC output in the form of a Recommendation or a Decision was not considered necessary for this purpose.

Preparations for WRC 99

The following work items for WGRR had been identified in the work plan as drafted by the CPG chairman:

The organisation and structure of the preparation of WRC 99 will be decided upon by the first CPG meeting after the WRC 97 to be held in February.

New ERC Decisions for a exemption from individual licensing of certain radio equipment

Based on ERC Decision for a harmonised regime for exemption from individual licensing of radio equipment, which is in public consultation until the 15th of February 1998, RR approved a number of follow up draft Decisions for the following equipment:

The draft Decisions for the equipment listed above will be forwarded to ERC for approval.

Short Range Business Radio

WGRR worked on three draft Decisions covering frequencies, free circulation and licensing of SRBR, adopting the name PMR 446 for this application. Since it was not possible to agree on a standard for PMR446, WGRR concluded that it would not be possible to finalise the draft ERC Decision on the harmonised frequency band to be designated for PMR 446. WGRR preliminary approved Draft ERC Decisions on licence exemption and free circulation and use of PMR 446 under the general principles of ERC/DEC/(95)01.

One Stop Shopping, Proposal for a satellite OSS project

The ERC and ECTRA meetings approved a proposal to set up a joint ECTRA/ERC Project Team to study once again the feasibility of OSS procedure for satellite services. The proposed OSS procedure should include all satellite elements such as S-PCS, VSATs, little LEOs etc. This group would make a study as a basis for further decisions in ERC and ECTRA whether to develop a general OSS-procedure or not.

WGRR discussed the advantages and disadvantages of OSS as an input to the work of the project team.

Fees and charges

A draft ERC Report on the introduction of economic criteria in spectrum management and the principles of fees and charging in the CEPT was finalised and presented to WGRR for approval.

With regard to the Draft Report the meeting was of the opinion that, since there has been very little time to study it approval was not yet possible at this meeting. It was therefore decided that the Report would be sent out to ERC List B after the meeting, with an accompanying letter requesting comments and contributions before the 15th of March. The Report, including the received comments will be discussed again at the next meeting.

New ERC Decisions on free circulation

Draft versions of the ERC Decisions on free circulation and use of Inmarsat-D, Inmarsat-Phone, EMS-PRODAT, EMS-MSSAT terminals that were presented for final approval to the ERC had been referred back for further work. Project Team RR7 had produced revised versions of all the draft Decisions taking into account the concerns raised by the ERC. The distinction between EU and non-EU countries was removed from decides 1 and a new decides 2 added, indicating that administrations may take measures to ensure that the network operator will inhibit the terminals from operating in case of a request by an administration for international protection of the Radio Astronomy Service. As for the possible interference between Inmarsat and EMS systems due to the same frequency usage, the meeting was informed that this issue has been solved by co-ordination agreements between administrations and the relevant satellite operators. The Decisions will be submitted to ERC for final adoption.

Project Team RR7 proposed a new draft ERC Decision providing for free circulation and use of terminals of the ARCANET system. The Eutelsat ARCANET system is a Ku-band VSAT system that operates in the 11-14 GHz band with fixed and mobile terminals. The terminals fully comply to ETS 300.159 and with the future TBR 27. The draft ERC Decision addresses only the free circulation and use of ARCANET suitcase terminals. WGRR approved the draft Decision on free circulation and use of ARCANET suitcase terminals and will submit it to the ERC for approval for public consultation.

Revision of ERC/REC 21-15

The revision of Recommendation 21-15, arranging free circulation of Inmarsat-C, Inmarsat-M, EutelTRACS, Inmarsat-D, Inmarsat-phone, EMS-Prodat, EMS-MSSAT had not entered into force, since the text was referred back to WGRR by the ERC. The comments of the ERC had been considered by RR7 and a new version had been prepared. RR approved the revised text, adding during the meeting ARCANET suitcase terminals. The text will be circulated for comments to the CEPT administrations during a period of 6 weeks.

Regulatory issues on UMTS

Documents covering regulatory issues originating from TG1 on UMTS were discussed.

It was noted that the TG1 reports directly to ERC, but will at a later stage prepare the necessary elements for an ERC Decision on free circulation to the RR group. Attention was drawn to the fact that, as UMTS will have a world wide character, it may not be the case that principles, taken for granted within Europe, can be applied on a world wide basis. Therefore the draft report of TG1 dwelled on a number of particular issues related to global circulation, which need further detailed consideration. The draft report reflects the fact that IMT 2000 is not one system but a family of systems. This fact causes additional difficulties to the circulation of terminals. Also, it is asked, whether any arrangements at all are needed, or would the circulation arrange itself without any intervention of regulators. The Task Group had also already discussed and agreed on some basic elements for an ERC Decision on free circulation. The meeting welcomed the information given. Delegates were requested to address their comments directly to Mr. Länsman before 15 March.

Matters concerning radio amateurs

A request from the USA to join T/R 61-01 had been circulated to administrations and comments from several administrations were received by the ERO. All administrations sending comments agreed with the participation, but there was one proposal with regard to the data to be included in the table. WGRR approved the application of the USA and determined the contents of the table. ERO will inform the FCC about the decision of WGRR.

Enforcement

A proposal by UK and The Netherlands on enforcement activities was discussed. The aim of the proposal is to stress the need for harmonisation of enforcement activities in the CEPT because: enforcement, including market surveillance, is not just a national matter, but also a common matters in the CEPT as a logical consequence of the implementation of decisions and recommendations; there is a need to investigate the possibilities to develop common measurements protocols to inspect radio-systems; international exchange of experience and staff members might be a worthwhile action; the need to have mechanisms to check type approval records on a mutual base.

WGRR agreed start a Study Group which should carry out - for a start - a feasibility study. The possible outcome of the R&TTE Directive should be taken into account in the work of this Study Group. The chairman will inform the next ERC Meeting about the work of this Study Group.

Progress on ERO studies on legislation, conformity assessment in the CEE countries and Free Circulation arrangements with other Regional Organisations

Information on the progress EC Work requirements 1997 was given. The following three work requirements were mentioned:

There has been some delay in the progress in all three studies because of the difficulties in collecting the information from administrations and difficulties with regard to personnel shortage within ERO. Second interim reports will be available at the next WGRR meeting.

It was noted that only very few administrations had informed ERO with respect to primary and secondary legislation. A lack of availability of the English versions of laws and regulations was one of the reasons mentioned for the lack of information. The Czech Republic noted the fact that some Eastern European countries were in a process of changing their laws.

CEPT/EC preparations for GMPCS MoU

In the margin of the RR meeting a meeting of the group preparing a CEPT input to the next meeting of the GMPCS Task Group meeting on 12 and 13 February in Geneva took place. The two GMPCS Task Force documents (i.e. Models for the implementation of Arrangements and Notification/Implementation of the GMPCS-MoU Arrangements) were discussed and the group had some difficulties with the documents in their present form. A proposal for revision will be prepared as input for the Task Group meeting. The group will have a further meeting on the 11th of February.

Next meeting of the RRWG

The next meeting of the RR WG will take place in UK, from 11- 15 May 1998. The following agenda items are currently scheduled to be considered:

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