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37th WGRR Meeting 26-30 May 2003, Urgup, Turkey
1. Report from other meetings
Report from EFIS Maintenance Group
Seventeen countries have now provided their information, which is available on EFIS. The EFIS MG had reported to WGFM, proposals for a Decision to extend the definitions of systems and services in EFIS; a separate draft Decision to revise the current information is planned so that RTTE equipment classes and a list of radio interfaces could also be added. Administrations were urged to provide information for EFIS.
Informal report from ECC meeting with US FCC
A recent meeting between the ECC and the US FCC was held in Washington DC. The meeting was successful and there was some useful information from the meeting, particularly the FCC’s approach on how Spectrum is managed and utilised in the US. Also with regard to SRR automotive radar, FCC said that the pressure to permit this was coming from Europe (SARA).
2. Conformity Assessment Matters
2.1 Ultra Wide Band (UWB) Devices
ITU TG1/8 have their next meeting scheduled for October. ETSI are preparing a technical report on UWB which will be forwarded to CEPT in September. In discussion it was noted that the IEEE are also producing a new standard and this information will assist CEPT in studying the topic. Regulatory requirements of UWB are still unclear.
2.2 Automotive Radar Devices
A Draft ECC Decision is currently being prepared in the SRD MG on automotive radar devices at 77 GHz. Once WGFM agree to this Draft Decision at their September meeting, it will be going out for public consultation. Discussions are continuing on the draft Decision for an interim solution for 24GHz. The EU Commission are trying to address the problems associated with restricting the placing on the market and use of equipment at the end of any interim period, in the EEA countries.
2.3 Report of SRD/MG
As well as the activity on automotive SRR, SRD MG had also notified some additional categories of SRD equipment for the RTTE Class 1 list, and additions had been noted on EFIS.
The Chairman informed the group that letters will be sent to the SRD/MG asking for information on these topics for future meetings.
3. Maritime Work Issues
3.1 Report of RR2
Document (03)30 which was the report of the last RR2 meeting was introduced. It was noted that the ECPs on WRC 2003 agenda items 1.9, 1.10 and 1.14 were adopted by CPG and that at the last CPG meeting the relevant briefs were also finalised and adopted.
RR2 has forwarded their views on the maritime resolutions and recommendations in the ITU Radio Regulations to CPG/PT4 for consideration. A liaison statement was also sent to CPG/PT4 regarding the proposal CITEL made for a WRC 2003 agenda item 1.10.1, regarding the assignment of MMSI to SAR aircraft. RR2 suggested that the issue be put on the agenda for WRC 2007.
There has been a proposal from the UK about their GMDSS Coast Stations Operator Certificate Course. The UK intend to have this as an IMO course. RR2 expressed an interest in drafting an ECC deliverable for this. Sweden and Denmark suggested this needed careful consideration in RR2 since the education of coastguards is a national matter. The Chairman suggested that perhaps a Report or Recommendation might be appropriate.
3.2 Certification of Seafarers
Information Document 2 was introduced. Following discussions at previous meetings, the Commission had replied to the letter from WGRR drawing their attention to the discrepancies between ERC Decision (99)01 and EU Directive 2001/25. RR2 had drafted the reply in the document to report that this discussion is also ongoing in IMO.
4. Preparation for WRC 2003
4.1 CPG and CPG PT4 Report
Information Document 3, which was the CPG PT4 report of their last meeting was introduced. Progress was made on the agenda items 1.7, 1.9, 1.10 and 1.14 and the Briefs were finalised. European Common Proposals were adopted at CPG in February and the briefs at the last CPG meeting, one month ago.
5. Work items on licensing and free circulation
5.1 Report of RR6
The RR6 Chairman introduced Document (03)43 which was the report of the last RR6 meetings. It was reported that there have been two RR6 meetings since the last WGRR; one being for the revision of ERC Report 61, and the other on Electronic Licensing and Amateur topics.
Good progress has been made on revising the ERC Report 61 which is expected to be available at the September WGRR meeting.
The light licensing regime questionnaire has been sent out but only 10 replies have been received so far. Administrations were urged to send responses to the questionnaire to Mr Dave Thomas.
5.2 Electronic Licensing
There will be an Electronic Licensing Workshop to be held on 23-24 July at the ERO. Information Document 6 was introduced, which outlined the structure of the workshop. Once the programme has been agreed, the ERO will send the invitation to Administrations. The RR6 Chairman urged Administrations to try to attend the workshop. A Draft Agenda for the workshop is in Annex 4.
5.3 List of licensing contacts
The list of licensing contacts has been sent to the ERO for publication on the ERO website.
5.4 Draft ECC Decision on exemption from Licensing of VSATs in the frequency band 14.25 – 14.50 GHz Earth-to-space
Document (03)45 summarised the results of the consultation on this Draft Decision. Comments were received from Finland, Germany, Italy and Turkey. SAP REG also expressed strong support for this Decision. Finland clarified their comments that they will not be able to implement the Decision because of the need to co-ordinate with their neighbours, The Russian Federation.
The Draft Decision was agreed and will be forwarded to the ECC for final adoption. The Decision is available in Annex 5.
6. EU Matters
TCAM, including class 1 equipment
Information Document 7, which was a liaison statement from TCAM to the Radio Spectrum Committee was introduced. It was also reported that the Commission feels that the VSAT Decision in frequency bands 14.25 – 14.50 GHz Earth-to-space could in the future be moved to Class 1, but WGRR did not think that this would be possible for some time.
7 Work of PT5
7.1 Report from PT5 Chairman
The PT5 Chairman introduced Document (03)40 which is a liaison statement to WGRR from PT5.
At the last PT5 meeting, a number of issues had been raised in connection with Administrations’ implementation of CEPT free circulation and use, and licence exemption Decisions. In one example a temporary resident in Europe had taken up service provisions from a US provider because the service was not available from a national service provider. WGRR considered this to be a positive example. In another instance, it seemed that Administrations would not implement free circulation and use Decisions if the service was not provided in their country by a national service provider. Mr Larsen suggested that it might be worth investigating and documenting whether Administrations link the implementation of free circulation Decisions with having a national service provider licensed in their territory.
A future work item for PT5 will be the update of the SAT OSS, but at the ECC’s request, work had been started in order to take account of the implementation of the new EU Communications Regime. The plans to make the required changes to the software are currently being prepared. The PT5 Chairman also reported that there is a need for Administrations to use the OSS as the more countries that use it, the more worthwhile it becomes. It is unlikely that the software requirements will be agreed until March 2004, with the software implemented late 2004, beginning of 2005.
8. Matters concerning radio fees and charges
8.1 Report of RR8
Document (03)33 was introduced. The main discussions during the meeting were on fees for short term events, drafting the questionnaire on cost allocation and accounting systems and the work item on auctions and beauty contests.
23 Administrations have completed the questionnaire on fees for short term events. RR8 noted the need for more homogeneity in handling short term events in CEPT countries. Application forms should be responded to quickly and licences should be easy to obtain. The way fees are calculated is very different in each Administration, and there would be merit in having a simpler approach. A large amount of information had been received from Administrations and a report is being produced. WGRR had an initial view of the report (Document (03)33) and a number of comments were made.
RR8 will take into account the comments received on this, and will submit the draft report to the next WGRR meeting in September. RR8 will also consider whether the last section of the report should be conclusions or recommendations.
RR8 also drafted an input for RR11 on fees for short term events for inclusion into the update to ERC Report 34.
8.2 Cost Allocation and Accounting Questionnaire
Information Document 4, which was the cost allocation and accounting questionnaire was presented. RR8 encouraged the Administrations to return their completed questionnaires to the ERO by 13th June.
9. Enforcement
9.1 Report of RR11
Document (03)34 which was the report of the last RR11 meeting was introduced.
The meeting discussed the report on Illegal FM Broadcasting noting the comments received from the last WGRR meeting in Copenhagen. An improved questionnaire will be sent out to Administrations. The report will be submitted to the next WGRR meeting in September 2003 for approval and consideration will be needed to be given as to whether it should be published as an ECC Report, or if it would be more appropriate to publish it on the website of the ERO in a restricted area.
RR11 are continuing to draft the Report on the Training of Field Force Staff. This report will be finalised at the next RR11 meeting in August and will be forwarded to WGRR for the next meeting in September for consideration and approval. It is not yet clear whether this will be an ECC Report or be published on the ERO website in a restricted area.
There was a report on the co-operation between RR11 and the SRD MG. A joint meeting will be held once a year to discuss issues effecting both groups. An information letter has been placed on the ERO website requesting further information regarding RLANs.
RR11 agreed a newsletter in conjunction with the SRD MG on ORLANs in the band 2.4-2.4835 GHz. This newsletter has been placed on the ERO website.
A report on Guidance for Special Events will be submitted to WGRR in September for approval. RR8 have provided information for this, which will be included in the report.
The list of enforcement contacts is currently being updated by the ERO.
9.2 Feasibility study on mobile phone interceptors
Document (03)37 was introduced, which is a proposal to study these devices to investigate possible regulatory solutions for the placing on the market and the use of such equipment. This equipment should meet the requirements of the RTTE Directive, but on occasion might be used improperly. RR11 wished to study this problem in more detail.
It was agreed the feasibility study be included on the RR11 work programme, however the meeting asked RR11 to provide a progress report on this work item at the next WGRR meeting in September.
9.3 Market surveillance campaign with ADCO
Document (03)35 was introduced. This is the first time that a market surveillance campaign has been set up between RR11 and ADCO in Europe. 22 Countries are taking part in the campaign and the ERO will collect, compare and produce recommendations for WGRR and TCAM. The EU CIRCA site holds the information from administrations and ERO is uploading information to the CIRCA site, so that a final report can be produced. So far information had only been received from a few of the 22 countries. A meeting in November between RR11 and ADCO will discuss the outcome of the campaign and reports will be forwarded to WGRR for the February meeting and TCAM in December.
9.4 Draft Recommendation on GSM Jammers
Document (03)36rev1 was introduced. Estonia, Germany and Turkey as well as GSM Europe provided comments to the Draft Recommendation, which had been discussed in RR11. Some misunderstanding about the Turkish comments had since been clarified, by the Turkish delegates. Following some discussions the Recommendation was agreed and will be forwarded to the ERO to be published. This is attached to the minutes as Annex 6.
In discussion it was noted that RR11 had previously planned to draft a similar Recommendation for non-GSM Jammers. This had not yet been started but would be taken up at the next RR11 meeting.
10 Radio Amateurs
10.1 CITEL application to join T/R61-01
There was nothing to report since the CITEL were due to meet in June to discuss the draft MoU. More information is expected to be available in September.
10.2 Revision of CEPT Recommendations T/R 61-01 and T/R61-02
The RR6 Chairman introduced Document (03)43 the report of the RR6 meeting in Helsinki to discuss this topic, which included the proposed revisions to Recommendation T/R 61-01. Since the mandatory requirements for Morse code for radio amateurs is expected to be abolished at the WRC 2003, this Recommendation needed to be amended. The major change was that there would now only be one CEPT licence class. Amendments to T/R 61-01 had been made to take account of this. Estonia requested that in the appendix, the call sign footnote 2 should not be removed, as this is still relevant in Estonia. This was accepted by WGRR.
The changes to Recommendation T/R 61-01 were adopted by WGRR, and a letter will be drafted to accompany the Recommendation when it is sent out for consultation, explaining the changes to the Recommendation, and that the outcome of WRC 2003 needs to be known before WGRR make the final decision about these changes. Comments will be requested by the beginning July, so that these can be discussed in the next RR6 meeting on 22nd July, and the Recommendation can be adopted at the next WGRR meeting in September, dependant on the outcome of WRC 2003.
Regarding Recommendation T/R 61-02, RR6 have arranged for an e-mail group to be set up to discuss changes to this Recommendation. Further work on this will be done at the next RR6 meeting in July.
It was agreed during the RR6 meeting that the section on Morse code examination requirements of T/R 61-02 should be extracted and could be published as an ECC Report for countries still wishing to keep the requirement. WGRR approved this approach.
Information Document 11 from the Austrian Administration was introduced, in which Austria positively expressed their interest in the proposed amendments of T/R 61-01 and T/R 61-02 and which gives strong support to the urgency of the work that needs to be done in CEPT.
11 Implementation of ECC Decisions
11.1 Work request from ECC
The WGRR Chairman introduced Document (03)41 concerning the work request from the ECC on identifying statements which could be used when responding to the ECC Chairman and ERO on an Administration’s commitment/implementation of ECC Decisions. This document was discussed in the meeting and some amendments were made. It was noted that in order to give a complete picture, a category of “partly implemented” was needed. However this was not in accordance with ECC rules and would be drawn to their attention.
Document (03)41 was revised and will be forwarded to the ECC. In order to start discussions at ECC the Chairman would consult the ECC Chairman about forwarding the document to WGFM and WGSE so that it could be considered at their autumn meetings. The amendments are available as Annex 7.
11.2 Implementation of ECC Decisions
ERO reported that more Administrations have sent their information to the ERO and that responses are continuing to be received.
Document (03)44 showed the current tables of implementation. The Chairman invited ERO to consider if it would be possible to supplement these tables with information about non-commitment or non-implementation. This would indicate a truer level of response.
12 RR Work programme
12.1 RR Work Programme
The WGRR Chairman introduced Document (03)39 which highlighted the changes proposed by the Project teams. The proposed changes were adopted and the Work Programme will be forwarded to the ECC. The work programme will be available as Annex 8.
12.2 RR8 Work Item regarding Auctions and Beauty Contests
The RR8 chairman informed the meeting that there had been discussions in RR8 on this work item, since ECC had queried why it was on the work programme. RR8 wanted to keep this work item as some countries are using Auctions and Beauty Contests.
The WGRR Chairman asked delegates to provide RR8 with information on their views on this work item, so that a response can be sent to ECC.
12.3 Proposal for new work item to introduce more flexibility when responding to changing market conditions and technological developments
The Netherlands gave a presentation (Annex 9) to WGRR which refers to Document (03)42. The concepts in this document are partly taken from the US FCC. The ECC has asked WGRR to look at these ideas and to investigate how they could be implemented.
Drafting groups were set up to look at topics in Document (03)42 and discussed during the meeting. The ideas which were suggested were discussed and some amendments were made (Results are in Annex 10). Further work will need to be done on this subject before the next ECC meeting, so it was suggested that a one day meeting will be set up, chaired by the Netherlands. A Correspondence group will also be set up to provide inputs for the discussion. The WGRR Chairman urged Administrations to try to attend the one day meeting or get involved with the correspondence group. This work item will be further discussed at the next WGRR meeting.
13 Any other business
13.1 CEPT Conference
The CEPT Conference will be held in Nice on 22-24 October 2003. Delegates were urged to try to attend the conference, as some topics related to the work of WGRR will be discussed. If any Administrations would like to get involved with any subjects, they should let the ERO know. The ERO website holds the information regarding the conference and delegates are advised that the programme is being updated constantly.
13.2 Recognised Spectrum Access (RSA) presentation
The UK gave a presentation to the group on this topic. This concerns UK proposals to authorise use of spectrum when it is inappropriate to use licensing procedures. The Presentation is available as Annex 11.
13.3 ERO Website
ERO introduced Information Document 9, which was a brief description of the new ERO website. Changes have been made to the site to offer more flexibility when accessing the site. Meeting documents can be easily downloaded and the site has a more user friendly approach.
Delegates were advised that all WGRR documents will now be put onto a new FTP server, which requires new passwords. These can be found in Information Document 9, or contact the WGRR Secretary. Germany mentioned that they might have problems when accessing the website, due to their “firewall”. The ERO are investigating any extra add-ins that may be required.
13.4 IARU Presentation
IARU gave a presentation (Annex 12) on IARU topics. Information was also available on this in Information Document 13. The presentation included the development of the national skill base for radio amateurs, the structure of the IARU and current issues in amateur radio licensing.
IARU Region 1 will be having a consultation during the summer about the structure of amateur radio licensing. They will try to come up with some preferred approaches that Administrations could consider.
Information regarding the Foundation Licence for Radio Amateurs was presented. This is the lowest level of radio amateur licence, and amateurs who have this are forbidden to use home constructed equipment and are limited to 10 Watts of power. This enables users to learn the basics of amateur radio.
14 Date and place of next meeting
The next meeting will be held in Nicosia, Cyprus, from the 29 September - 3 October 2003.
15 Closure of meeting
LIST OF ANNEXES
Annex 1 List of participants
Annex 2 Agenda
Annex 3 List of documents
Annex 4 Draft Agenda for E-Licensing Workshop
Annex 5 Draft ECC Decision on exemption from Licensing of VSATs in the frequency band 14.25 –14.50 GHz Earth-to-space
Annex 6 Recommendation on GSM Jammers
Annex 7 Statements when responding to the ECC Chairman and ERO on Commitment/Implementation of ECC Decisions.
Annex 8 WGRR Work Programme and Meeting Schedule
Annex 9 Presentation on the new work item to introduce more flexibility when responding to changing market conditions and technological developments in frequency management
Annex 10 Results of discussions on the new work item to introduce more flexibility when responding to changing market conditions and technological developments in frequency management
Annex 11 Recognised Spectrum Access (RSA) Presentation
Annex 12 IARU Presentation
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