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WGRR 10 –14 April 2000, Eger, Hungary
R& TTE directive
A joint WG RR/TG2 meeting was held. Results of the joint TG2/WG RR meeting were the following was discussed:
The Frequency Asked Question list, as available on the ERO website was updated;
A new version of the document on the influence of the directive on the ERC output documents was discussed and updated;
A first draft of a policy document on licensing was discussed;
Information was exchanged on how administrations react to notifications (Art 6.4)
The analysis of all interface regulations and spectrum plans, notified by Member States under article 4.1 of the Directive were discussed and the Commission informed about the plans to establish a group through the ERC to: Completion of list of "Class 1" equipment with radio equipment, for which the regulated interfaces are harmonised within the Community; Establishment of lists of radio equipment, operating in spectrum, the use of which is harmonised but for which Member States apply individual licenses (potentially to constitute a separate class); Classification of other types of radio equipment, which to a large extent are harmonised.
ERC/DEC/(97)10
The meeting evaluated the experiences with the regime established by the ERC Decision on the mutual recognition of conformity assessment procedures including marking of radio equipment and radio terminal equipment (ERC/DEC(97)10). In practice the operation of the regime has ceased due to national implementation of the R&TTE Directive in countries where the regime was in operation. The implementation situation of this Decision has not changed since the previous WG RR meeting but the number of entries in the equipment database exceeds 600. Entries from Austria, Denmark and Norway have been received although most of them are from Finland and the UK. There were several CABs in Denmark and in the UK. In total there were 18 CABs notified to the ERO for this regime but only 15 were active. As a general conclusion this regime was positive and a useful experience in preparing for the introduction of the R&TTE Directive.
The possibility of still issuing certificates under the ERC/DEC/(97)10 or under national regimes for recognition in countries not implementing the R&TTE Directive was discussed. It was not considered legally possible to issue such certificates any more because it would be in conflict with the implementation of the R&TTE Directive.
PMR 446
A table describing the implementation situation of PMR446 has been put on the ERO web pages to inform manufacturers and users. (See separate web page).
Proposals from the industry concerning the possibility to use time-division duplex and digital modulation in PMR 446 were received. More information is still needed on this issue before any conclusions and proposals can be made. The proposal is probably not within the scope of the existing ERC Decisions on PMR446 and may involve IPR problems.
Maritime issues
It was concluded that there is not sufficient support to continue the work on an ERC Decision concerning maritime S-PCS terminals. Therefore, further development of the Decision was put on hold. Some Administrations had indicated in RR2 that they may come back to the issue at a later stage.
RR2 has requested its participants to make available their contributions to ITU-R WP 8B in order to have some European co-ordination regarding these issues. A meeting of RR2 should be held before the next meeting of WP 8B.
Concerning IMO documentation it was reported that one of the hot topics in IMO is the requirement of general communications. GMDSS requires ships to be able to send and receive general communications but many countries are closing down their coast stations. IMO Comsar will discuss this at its next meeting.
There is also an IMO document indicating that Cospas-Sarsat will stop operation at 121.5 MHz at some point in time after which only 406 MHz will be used. There are however more than half a million 121.5 MHz EPIRBs in existence, therefore there needs to be sufficient transition period.
PMR licensing
WGRR approved an ERC Report on PMR licences, which is available on the ERO Website as ERC Report 73. Draft ERC Recommendations on PMR definition, processing time, and PMR licence duration and on harmonisation of licence application form and licence documentation for PMR (Professional Mobile Radio) were approved and sent for consultation to the administrations. If no proposals for change have been received before the 22nd of May the Recommendations will be considered adopted.
ERC/REC 21-07 on GMPCS and revision of ERC/REC 01-07 on exemption from licensing
These Recommendations were approved and can be found on the documentation page of the ERO web site.
Fees and charges
Further progress was made with regard to the draft ERC Report on PMR fees. With the draft ERC Report on Satellite fees a start was made and it was decided to develop, as was done in the PMR case, 5 theoretical systems and ask Administrations to calculate the fees for these systems. The questionnaire would be sent to Administrations. Chairman RR8 mentioned that the SAP RWG had sent a letter of support to RR8.
WG RR agreed with the proposal to broaden the refarming issue with secondary trading and other related topics as indicated in the EU’s 99 Review. The same proposal was also discussed within the ERC. RR8 intended to address this work in a separate group of RR8.
Enforcement
Additional areas of work dealing with enforcement and market surveillance activities were identified and WG RR adopted the revised Terms of Reference for RR11.
Programmable radio equipment
Concern was expressed about programmable radio equipment. Placing on the market of programmable (software) radio equipment can result in problems if this equipment is put into service. This matter discussed and it was concluded that placing on the market and free movement of programmable radio equipment taking into account the progress of technology and the scope of the R&TTE Directive should be permitted without any restrictions in the CEPT member countries. RR11 was study the item further.
Complaints caused by false alarms of EPIRBs
It was noticed that there is an increasing demand for use as low power personal alarm applications operating on the EPIRB frequency 121.5 MHz with 30milliWatts ERP in some CEPT countries. This alarms systems that can be used e.g. by mountaineers and hikers appear in the form of a wristwatch. Finland informed about the enforcement problems due to a high risk of false alarms. In the Netherlands 15 complaints were received from ELTs. Further investigation will be carried out by RR11.
ERC Report 78 on Market Surveillance aspects of Enforcement for Radio Equipment
The draft ERC Report on market surveillance and enforcement was finalised and can be found on the ERO web site under documentation.
Draft ERC Report on ISM
A first draft ERC Report on ISM had been prepared and submitted for consideration to WG RR. RR11 proposed to consider the registration of ISM equipment for installations above a certain level of HF-energy. This proposal is intended to assist enforcement authorities when tackling ISM problems and preventing interference to frequency and network planning. Furthermore, RR11 suggested possible liaison with national health and safety bodies to set acceptable levels of RF radiation.
On request of the meeting WG SE should also be consulted for advice. The finalised report will be forwarded to the next WG RR meeting for consideration and adoption.
Future CEPT marking schemes
WG RR agreed that the CEPT marking schemes will have no value when the R&TTE Directive 99/5/EC has been implemented. An additional marking regime can be based on a voluntary basis in the EEA and for those CEPT countries which have implemented the R&TTE Directive although it will have no legal consequences in these countries. WG RR concluded that there is no need to keep the CEPT marking schemes.
RR11 was requested to prepare a general Guidance note for Administrations in order to inform the users about the consequences of the R&TTE Directive in relation to existing CEPT marking schemes and CE marking (including the Alert Sign).
Radio Amateurs
The idea to modify Recommendation 61-02 HAREC was generally supported by the participants but it was noted that the outcome of the next WRC and WRC2003 could possibly influence the contents of this Recommendation. Following the discussion, it was agreed that RR6 should review the Recommendation.
The following issues were also referred to PT RR6: to examine the points needing change and/or clarification to separate the points into two categories : Those dependant on a decision from a future WRC affecting the amateur service Those independent of any immediate change to the definition of the amateur service and related regulations
It is assumed that if revision of S25 is accepted for the WRC 2003 Agenda a draft ECP or other related material, in consultation with other groups as necessary; and they will present regular reports to WG RR.
In particular, RR6 will consider Recommendations T/R 61-01 and T/R 61-02 and ERC Report 32,document RR00(45)rev1, and any other related issues.
About the request from Israel for information about Morse code examination, it was agreed that Israel would be advised that CEPT had presented an ECP for agenda items of WRC2003 which includes a proposal to revise Article S25 of the ITU RR; and also, to take account of that, CEPT WG RR is reviewing CEPT Recommendations T/R 61-01 and T/R 61-02.
WRC-2000
The outcome of the last CPG2000 meeting. The CPG adopted an ECP concerning the agenda of future WRCs. The meeting noted that all the WG RR, RR-2 and CPG/PT-4 proposals related to the amateur and maritime matters were included in the text of this ECP.
DSI III
The draft final report from the DSI process as well as a liaison statement from Chairman WG FM were discussed. The liaison statement from WG FM drew the attention of WG RR to the following items:
Revision of ERC Decision (97)01 regarding the publication of national tables of frequency allocations.
The subject of a revision of this Decision had already been discussed a number of times within WG RR and it was already concluded that a revision was necessary and some elements to be added to the Decision in relation to the R&TTE directive had already been identified. It was pointed out that the EU 1999 Review also contained elements and proposals that could lead to a further revision of the Decision and proposed to await the conclusions of the Commission on the consultation to the Review and take this into account in the work.
Refarming/deployment issues
WG RR was asked to give an opinion on these recommendations as well as to develop definitions. The meeting concluded that the recommendations could be supported and were already included in the work programme of RR8.
The phasing out of CT equipment
On this item WG RR concluded that this was a complicated issue, which had difficult legal implications and the time scales to free the frequencies could be long. How to stop placing on the market in relation to the R&TTE Directive is a crucial point. It would be interesting to know what the different time scales envisaged by Administrations are and to find out whether this information is already available.
It was decided that the PT Chairmen would develop draft answers to the before the June PT37 meeting via e-mail correspondence. The draft will be sent to WG RR participants for comments before it is sent to FM37.
Report of the Licensing Committee
The EC showed disappointment about the delay of the work of the PMR AHG and the fact that PMR Recommendations were produced instead of Decisions.
Switzerland mentioned that it might be an advantage to open the LC also to participation from third countries taking into account that many issues are interrelated with the work of other bodies where wider participation was possible. Switzerland would appreciate any movement in this direction.
Future work programme of WGRR
The Chairman proposed to discuss at the next meeting the future work of WG RR, the relation with the EC and other ERC Working Groups. This would also be helpful to ERO when they plan their work programme. It was suggested that the non-EEA countries should give some views on the future of WG RR as well as the EC. Also the Project Teams should discuss this during their future meetings and prepare some input for the next WG RR meeting.
Date and place of the next meeting
The next meeting of WG RR will take place in Luxembourg 11-15 September 2000. |