WGRR 11 - 15 June 2001, Bergen, Norway.

1.      JPT SAT WGRR Joint Meeting

Comprehensive Satellite Initiative Report

The draft CSI Report was discussed in general and the section with proposals in particular.

The CSI proposals in Chapter 7  were addressed one by one. In a few cases modifications to the text were agreed, as would be reflected in the new version of the report to be issued to ERC and ECTRA in the following days. All except two proposals, (7.1.5 & 7.2.7), found support by the meeting after these modifications were made.

It was concluded that the CSI contains much helpful information and could usefully be published as an ERC Report, although there might need to be some presentational changes to the text.

Implementation and future co-operation

On the issue of which group would be the appropriate one to turn agreed proposals into the proper ERC/ECTRA deliverables, the J PT SAT chairman suggested a rough guideline: Decisions on Licensing exemption for individual terminals and free carriage and use would fall naturally within WGRR. Issues relating to Milestone Review Procedures etc. seem to belong in J PT SAT. SAT OSS and related CAF-R work now falls under J PT SAT, but obviously with strong links with WGRR.

It was agreed that in the future a flexible division of work between the two groups should be developed.

The satellite industry representatives were asked for their view on this future division of work, as well on ways of increasing the co-operation between the two groups. The meeting agreed the suggested principles, which were as follows:

It is recognised that many J PT SAT issues do not fall within the WGRR terms of reference.

A liaison between the two groups should be established: Representatives from each group should attend relevant parts of each other’s meetings.

Joint meetings are encouraged between J PT SAT and the WGRR or some of its project teams.

Broad mandates for the two groups in the satellite area are desirable, with sufficient flexibility.

Brief presentation of Common Application Form 

The CAF-R chairman presented the work of his group and mentioned that copies of the early draft Common Application Form and the list of Individual Requirement Considerations were available.  Administrations were encouraged to take part in the CAF-R work.

RR8 Draft ERC Report on satellite fees

The RR8 chairman gave a presentation of the draft ERC Report on satellite licensing fees. Satellite industry expressed its satisfaction with the report and said they looked forward to the final version of it.

2.      Conformity Assessment matters

Regulatory issues of UWB Devices

a) ERO introduced a report of the recent workshop on UWB.  The SRD MG will have to consider possible regulatory requirements for these kinds of devices and what this would mean. Discussions followed about whether UWB should be included in SRD Recommendation 70-03, which primarily covers licence exempt short range devices.  Some UWB devices could be included here but not all come under this classification so there may need to be a separate annex to deal with them. ETSI and ITU had begun to consider some issues relating to standards for these devices; and it was noted that WGSE were looking at compatibility aspects. Concerns were expressed about the affects on passive services (see section (b) below). In conclusion it was agreed that WGRR did not totally support the idea that regulatory aspects of these devices should be treated alongside SRDs; these concerns would be reported to the SRD MG.

b) The concept of ITU RR footnote S5.340, ‘All emissions are prohibited’.

Documents, which had also been sent to WGSE were presented. In the documents concerns had been expressed about part of the standard prepared by ETSI which was due to be considered for Public Enquiry soon. The footnote is a very strong statement and causes much concern. The SRD MG were liasing with SE24 on this matter and they would be asked to take it further but WGRR would need to be involved with the regulatory issues at some stage.

It was agreed that both topics are related; there are a number of different issues involved; and therefore it would be important for there to be a central co-ordination point to ensure that all interested parties were kept informed. WGRR suggested that SRD MG could carry out that role – at least until the issues became clearer, and a clear requirement for action could be given to WGs.

TCAM

ERO reported on the TCAM 9 meeting, which had covered a number of topics of interest to WGRR: interface notifications for SRDs, circulation of IMT 2000 terminals, interpretation of Articles 4.2 and 7.3 for satellites, and possible review of the RTTE Directive. The latter point ha been considered by RR 11 and they had proposed some items which could be forwarded to the Commission.  Following discussion about this, the meeting were not in favour of the items being forwarded to the Commission by WGRR; however, it was noted that Administrations may wish to consider making a national input to this exercise.

Guide for assessment of modules

The guide for assessment of modules had now been prepared by RTTE CA. There were some issues relating to assessment of radio kits and this would need to be considered in TCAM.

WGRR were pleased to note that Mr Pekka Lansmann of Finland would be Chairman of PT4 which would be dealing with maritime and amateur matters – those of most interest to WGRR. The meeting noted that it was proposed that CPG would take up the preparation of documents from other WGs and PTs as from February 2002.

Maritime issues

RR2 has made good progress on WRC 2003 agenda item 1.9, and a possible solution for agenda item 1.10. suggested changes to the draft brief  and ECP on agenda item 1.14 have been sent to SE 31 for consideration. A draft brief on agenda item 1.9  has been prepared.

RR2 also took note of several documents, which were going to be considered by WP8B. A document submitted by Denmark reflects the proposed CEPT position on WRC-03 agenda item 1.9, which should ensure that the CEPT position is included in the CPM report.

Amateur issues

RR6 had considered what changes might be needed to ITU RR S.25 and S.19; and if that would require consequential changes to be made to S.1. No changes had been identified in the latter.

S.19 related to call signs and Finland had proposed changes to implement practices which were already taking place in some Administrations whereby special call signs were permitted for special events. Documents had been prepare which it was agreed could be forwarded to CPG.

The issue of amendment to S.25, which concerned the removal of the morse code requirement, was more difficult. Changes proposed by RR6 proposes the removal of the requirement for testing of morse code but does not totally remove the possibility for use of morse. In the RR6 meeting it had also been suggested that drafting changes to S.25 should include a mandatory reference to the ITU Recommendation on RAMQUAL but not all Administrations supported this. In the discussion there were many different views expressed about the proposed changes to S.25 and RR6 would need to consider this further before putting any comments or briefing into CPG. Administrations should ensure that their views in the proposal are transmitted to RR6 so that they can be considered in their next meeting.

Although this was a difficult topic RR6 was urged to try to reach an agreed view on the issues before it was put into CPG.

It was agreed that the agreed texts produced by RR2 and RR6 should be forwarded to CPG with a liaison statement from WGRR and that RR6 would reconsider the issues relating to S.25 at their next meeting.

4.      Maritime work items

Handheld VHF with DSC distress alerting facility  

On a request from TCAM the matter regarding the introduction of a handheld  VHF radiotelephone with a DSC alerting facility was put on the RR2 agenda. RR2 had not been able to consider this fully yet but would do so in a separate one-day meeting to be held on August 24 in London.

5.      Work items on licensing and free circulation

Electronic licensing

The draft Report of RR6’s work on electronic licensing was introduced. Much interest had been shown in this topic. RR6 proposed that  ERC should be requested to permit WGRR through RR6 to continue the work in order to complete the Report.  This would enable them to suggest some guidelines for Administrations to follow when introducing – or planning to introduce – electronic licensing. Some minor amendments were made to the document and it was agreed that it would be forwarded to ERC.

Phasing out of CT equipment

WGFM had agreed the draft ERC Decisions on frequency allocation changes for CT. These draft Decisions were now out on public consultation. The draft ERC report on regulatory procedures to be followed when undertaking changes in frequency allocations was introduced. The document had been discussed at previous WGRR meetings and a further draft had been prepared and circulated to Administrations. This latest text included amendments put forward during that consultation. After a short discussion the text was agreed and it will go for publication as ERC Report Number 111.

6.      Matters concerning radio fees and charges

ERC Report on PMR

Comments on the draft ERC Report on PMR had been discussed in RR8 and the Report was  published as ERC Report 105.

Progress Report on Satellite fees

The draft Report could not be finalised for this WGRR meeting. It will be presented at the next meeting of WGRR in Liège/Luik.

Administrations that have not yet checked the overview of answers to the questionnaire are kindly requested to do so.

Progress Report on refarming

A first draft of the ERC Report was presented for information. This would be further developed before the next WGRR meeting.The meeting noted the documents sent to WGRR from WGFM, which included a presentation from France about the refarming of spectrum. RR8 would incorporate this in their work on refarming.

7.      Enforcement

Radio Frequency Identification Systems (RFID);

ERO introduced the liaison statement from WGFM concerning the drafting of new provisions for RFID applications in the 2.45 GHz band in CEPT member countries. It had been suggested that a new Annex 11 to the Short range Device recommendation 70-03 could be developed for RFID, indicating the frequency bands, power levels, duty cycles and mitigation techniques as well as the requirement for automatic power control (APC) for RFID readers.

The automatic power control should guarantee the reduction of radiated power from 4 Watt to 500 milliwatt when the RFID will be moved and used outside buildings.  ETSI had also developed a draft standard (EN 300 440) including an annex on RFID issues in which a method for introduction of automatic power control had been included.

WG RR concluded that the course of action taken by the FM WG and the ETSI in the standardisation work could be supported. However, for the time being WG RR expressed concern about the  lack of legislative means, practical implementation and enforcement of the automatic power control facility. Therefore it was important that APC should be part of the essential requirements and consequently of the national radio interface specifications on RFID applications.

WG RR noted that a letter had been sent by the FM WG  to the European Commission inviting the Commission to confirm  that the requirement for automatic power control is recognised as an elaboration of the essential requirements in accordance with article 3.2 of the R&TTE Directive and that this requirement can be included in the harmonised standard and also that the national radio interface specification may include requirements for such a technique in its normative part.

WG RR considered that a positive answer from the European commission with the above confirmation would facilitate continued development of the regulation for RFID as proposed by the WG FM.

WG RR also considered positively  a proposal from the ETSI representative (Mr. Tosato) for an enhancement to the ETSI standard (part 2) on RFID regarding  automatic power control.

Mr. Tosato drafted such a possible slight amendment, which it was agreed should be sent to the ETSI ERM meeting 18-22 June 2001 for consideration.

It was noted that SRD MG would continue to liaise with RR11.

Sweden informed the meeting that due to military usage it is currently not possible for the Swedish administration to accept a power exceeding 100 mW (EIRP).

Draft Recommendation on Receiver requirements

A liaison statement form WGSE was introduced. WGSE proposed that there should be one Recommendation reflecting the interests of both WGRR and WGSE. In discussion this approach was agreed upon and a text of a liason statement and draft recommendation to send to WGSE was prepared and sent to WGSE to consider and adopt.

Draft ERC Report on Inspection methods/market surveillance.

There had not been many responses from the administrations on the questionnaire, which was issued on this topic.  The Chairman urged more administrations to become involved and if possible provide some information this week. Mr Petersson will continue work in RR11 to produce a draft report for the next WGRR meeting and administrations are urged to have input into this report, in particular by responding to the questionnaire, which had been circulated.

Draft ERC Report on EPIRBs

Some minor amendments were made during the meeting to the draft ERC Report and it was agreed that the Report would be published by ERO as ERC Report Number 110. The attention of IMO and ICAO would be drawn to the Report.

8.      Radio Amateurs

ERO introduced an update regarding implementation of Recommendations 61-01 and 61-02. This will also be published on te website under the radio amateurs section.

Secondly correspondence from CITEL was received requesting that they should be able to participate in the CEPT arrangements for reciprocity of treatment for amateur licensees.  ERO and IARU had –separately – sought  clarification with their contacts in CITEL on some aspects of the request. Following a brief discussion it was agreed that Mrs Jeanty would consider the issues further in a small email group. Those wishing to participate were IARU, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Russia, Netherlands, Ukraine, UK and Belgium.

It was noted that in the RR6 work on amateur topics, The Netherlands had proposed developing a CEPT HAREC Recommendation for Novice licences. However, it was considered that this should be put onhold until the situation regarding WRC 2003 and amateur licensing was clearer.

9.      ERO Frequency Data Base Project

ERO introduced the developments so far on EFIS. Finland reported the most recent discussions within PT2. In the discussion it was noted that EFIS will be of great interest from a regulatory viewpoint since it will provide easy access to information about national allocation tables, and will help with requirements in the RTTE Directive and also the forthcoming EU Spectrum Decision. Administrations were encouraged to take an active interest in the progress of work on EFIS.

10.    DSI III

ERO introduced the response from the ERC on DSI III.  Specific work items for WGRR are contained in Annex A of this document.

The action points in Annex A were discussed and input from the meeting on each item was given.

Action point 1.2. – It is clear that there are many representatives from industry who take part in WGRR meetings and WGRR are not guilty of excluding industry.

Action point 1.4  – publication of national frequency allocation information. WGRR recognise the need for improvement in this area and note the target date of 2002. WGRR were also amused to note that WGFM proposed that they should undertake the revision of Decision 97/01 –although they had previously requested WGRR to draft the original text.

Action points 2.1 to 2.4.  Working group RR8 are currently looking at the refarming issues and are inviting industry to help with the work, once they have defined the term ‘refarming’ then WGFM will be asked to contribute to the work.

Action Point 7.1. CT frequency reallocation. WGRR had agreed publication of the ERC Report on this topic.

ERO informed that consideration had been given as to how to improve consultations with industry.  The ERC is holding it’s first workshop in September 2001 and are awaiting comments from industry on the topics to discuss. WGRR expressed some concern about such a flexible approach, which might run the risk of raising false hopes with industry. WGRR looked forward to receiving progress reports on this proposal.

11.  Chairmanships

Acting Chairman announced that her name had been nominated as a candidate for Chairman WGRR. This would be decided on at the ERC meeting in July. WGRR should note that if approved, then a second Vice Chairman would be needed for the Group at the next meeting.

12.  Presentation from Ukraine

A presentation was given by the Ukrainian Administration about the arrangements for spectrum management in the Ukraine. The meeting were interested to note that their administrative structures are similar to those in several other Administrations; and that similar problems occurred in the Ukraine as elsewhere. In discussion the meeting were interested to note that the majority of licence applications are processed within 30 days, and WGRR hoped that participation by Ukraine would assist in solving some of the problems they had identified.

13.  CB

ERO introduced an overview of CB regulations, that had been drafted following the discussion at the last meeting.  Some amendments to the original questions had been made and information had been supplied by a number of Administrations. In discussion it was agreed that further minor amendment to the document would be helpful so as to include information relating to free circulation and modulation. The document would be revised and circulated once again to Administrations before being published on the ERO website.

14.   Date and place of next Meeting.

The next meeting will take place in Liege, 1-5  October at the kind invitation of the Belgian Administration.

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