Update on Mutual Recognition Agreements February 7, 2006

2 Market Access Under the MRAs AGREEMENTS IN FORCEPROGRESS PENDING Europe 25 Countries APEC Phase II Singapore Hong Kong EFTA Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein CITEL Brazil Mexico APEC Phase 1 Canada Singapore Australia New Zealand Chinese Taipei Hong Kong Korea Japan Exchange of Letters Acceptance of Test Reports MRA Certification APEC Phase II Canada APEC Phase I Not anticipating new activity anytime soon

3 EMC Directive Timeline for Implementation December 31, 2004 – Revised EMC Directive published January 20, 2005 – Member States have two years to incorporate new EMCD into national legislation July 20, 2007 – 2004/108/EC repeals 89/336/EEC 2004/108/EC can be applied July 20, 2009 – Application of new Directive is mandatory and apparatus under 89/336/EEC cannot be sold on the market

4 EMC Directive Revision 39 Amendments Competent Bodies will no longer exist CABs under the EMCD will become Notified Bodies Increased Surveillance of NBs Use of a NB will not be required under any circumstances but can be used anyway Guidelines Ongoing discussions/meetings Next draft (very close to final version) will probably be available next month

5 APEC – Phase I Korea 14 U.S. CABs Requirements are listed at (Follow the link to Regulations and Technical Criteria. There are separate links to terminal, radio, and IT equipment.) CABs must test to the latest Korean requirements, even if their scope of accreditation has not been updated Hong Kong 2 U.S. CABs Hong Kong standards can be viewed at

6 APEC – Phase II Singapore Accreditation process for 4 U.S. CABs is expected to be complete in Feb 06 Qualified CABs will be notified by NIST and will submit application and relevant documentation Designations expected March/April 2006 Hong Kong Letters have been exchanged for Phase II, but current structure doesn’t allow for private domestic or foreign certification bodies. Hong Kong is in the process of preparing to accept private- sector certification bodies Timeline unknown

7 APEC Info Information for U.S. CABs interested in designation and/or requirements under the APEC MRA is available at this site:

8 Japanese Authorities Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) Ministry of Internal Affairs & Communication (MIC) Voluntary Control Council for Interference (VCCI) Voluntary EMC Laboratory Accreditation Center (VLAC)

9 US- Japan: Current Situation for Acceptance of Test Results No agreement exists today FCC only accepts test results for unintentional radiators and industrial, scientific, and medical (ISM) equipment from labs accredited by foreign accreditation bodies under the terms of a government-to-government MRA or through a parallel exchange of letters VCCI accepts foreign test reports from its U.S. members, but the approval process is burdensome and time-consuming for the labs who must submit extensive paperwork/data for each test facility

10 US- Japan: Proposal for Acceptance of Test Results Parallel exchange of letters between USTR and MOFA currently in draft. FCC will accept test results for unintentional radiators and ISM equipment from Japanese labs accredited by VLAC. VCCI will accept test reports from its U.S. members who are accredited by NVLAP or A2LA -- but without all the paperwork. Will still have to pay membership fee to VCCI.

11 US-Japan MRA - Pending Draft text has been agreed to in principle by USTR, FCC, NIST, MOFA, and MIC. Scope includes telephone terminal equipment and radio equipment MRA will only apply to equipment that is subject to certification USG support for the MRA is contingent upon the exchange of letters for acceptance of test results

12 CITEL - Mexico Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America Goal is to keep borders closed terrorism and open to trade SPP includes implementation of the MRA PEC – Mexico’s Conformity Assessment Procedure Published Aug 05. Entered into force Oct 05. Applies to 6 of Mexico’s technical standards (NOMs). NAFTA Technical Standards Subcommittee (TSSC) TSSC Meeting in March Review of Conformity Assessment Procedures Traceability Issues Expectation that MRA will be implemented with Mexico in the next year or so is medium to low.

13 CITEL - Brazil ANATEL - in the process of getting their own house in order 6 EMC labs accredited by INMETRO, 7 more pending Continue to update standards, test methods, and general requirements 3 Equipment Categories: Terminal, Radio, Network Adopting procedures for designating domestic labs Next update in May at CITEL Expectation is that MRA will be implemented, eventually. May have a transition period.

14 Laboratory Accreditation under the MRAs NIST National Voluntary Conformity Assessment System Evaluation (NVCASE) Program is a vehicle to recognize qualified U.S. accreditation bodies who accredit U.S. CABs NIST identified NACLA as a suitable alternative to the NVCASE Program.

15 Laboratory Accreditation under the MRAs Other alternatives… Must be MRA signatory, in good standing, to a laboratory accreditation cooperation that is in full conformance with ISO/IEC as verified by evaluation and assessment by peer accreditation bodies Must meet specific technical and administrative requirements of foreign governments under MRAs Other requirements

16 Workshops International MRA Workshop - Oct 3-7, 2005 First workshop to include EU, APEC, and CITEL 160 representatives from government, industry, and academia (5 continents, 3 regions, and 19 countries) cement.htm Feedback Future Workshops ANSI-NIST Options for Action Summit id=7&articleid=1133 MRA Workshop at NIST, Spring 2007 (tentative)

17 MRA-Related Meetings US-EU Joint Cmte Mtg – February 3 (DVC) NAFTA TSSC – March 2-3, Mexico City EMC WP & ECACB – March 6-7, Brussels R&TTE CA – April 11, Paris US-EU Joint Sectoral Cmte Mtg – April (TBD) APEC Tel MRA – April 24-28, Calgary CITEL MRA – May 23-26, Santo Domingo

What’s Next? Mary Jo DiBernardo National Institute of Standards and Technology Phone: Web: