INFORMATION MANAGEMENT
Safety and EMC legislation in Australia and New Zealand
1.
Australia / NZ safety / EMC / radio transmitter equipment
Australian and New Zealand have the same legislation but these are administered nationally.
Products that meet the legal requirements in one can freely be sold in the other.
1.1
Marks
All Level 1, 2 or 3 electrical equipment offered for sale by registered “Responsible Suppliers”
must be marked with the Regulatory Compliance Mark (RCM). This will replace the current Ctick logo that is used to show that equipment complies with applicable Australian safety, radio
telecom and EMC legislation. Either the equipment manufacturer or the Australian importer
applies the mark to the equipment but the importer (or Australian manufacturer) must be
registered on the national database (see below).
The dimensions are defined by the standard AS/NZS 4417.1 and a copy will be given to
suppliers when they register to use the RCM compliance mark. The RCM mark is:
Farnell element14 sells both own-brand and products from other manufacturers. When Farnell
Australia (element14) is the importer, it will need to ensure that products that they import and
sell have the correct mark (if marking is required):
•
Now (assuming that the Farnell element14 registration was with the old C-tick system)
with the C-tick mark
•
After RCM registration – either C-tick or RCM during the transition period until 1 March
2016
•
After RCM registration and from 1 March 2016 – only with the RCM mark.
1.2
Supplier Registration
It is believed that Farnell Australia (element14) registered under the old “C-tick” system and so
will need to register again in the national database to be able to use the RCM label. This must
be carried out before the 1 March 2016. Once registered, products can be supplied using the
RCM mark instead of the C-tick mark. Registration is carried out on-line via
https://equipment.erac.gov.au/Registration/.
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1.3
Compliance records
Compliance records must be in English; they can be originals, copies or in electronic form.
Farnell Australia (element14) should have these available (10 days are allowed to supply when
requested) for all medium and high risk products (risk levels are explained below) that it imports
and supplies. These should be kept for five years after Farnell element14 stop selling the
product.
2.
Safety requirements
2.1
Scope
In-scope electrical equipment is low voltage electrical equipment that is rated at:
•
Greater than 50 V AC RMS or 120V ripple-free DC (Extra-low voltage) and
•
Less than 1000V AC RMS or 1500V ripple-free DC (high voltage),
In-scope electrical equipment must be designed, or marketed as suitable for household,
personal or similar use.
There are three levels; 1, 2 and 3. Level 3 equipment registration is mandatory. Level 1
equipment registration is voluntary. At present, there are no level 2 products.
Equipment registration should not be confused with supplier registration. All suppliers must
register, but only level 3 products must to be registered (by registered suppliers).
Level 3 equipment includes the following types of product that are sold by Farnell element14:
•
Power supplies, for luminaires or household types of chargers or power supplies.
•
Domestic portable tools
•
Power cords
•
Several types of lamp holder
•
Extension sockets
•
Cord line switch
•
Household fans
•
Fluorescent lamp ballasts and starters
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•
Portable luminaires
•
Miniature over-current circuit breakers
•
Residual current devices
•
Mains plugs, wall switches and wall sockets
•
Mains supply power cords.
The full list also includes various household and consumer appliances.
Level 3 products sold in Australia and New Zealand must have Australian Certificate of
Conformity for each level 3 product or family of level 3 products.
Only registered suppliers can register products. Farnell element14 can obtain certification online. There is a guide at http://www.erac.gov.au/images/Downloads/Applicant%20Guide.pdf
Suppliers must first register on the national database to use RCM safety / EMC mark (see
separate section on supplier registration above).
Safety rules are available from:
http://www.erac.gov.au/images/Downloads/Equipment%20Safety%20Rules.pdf
Obligations for each level are:
Level 1 – meet applicable standards, have the compliance mark (c-tick or RCM) and have a
responsible supplier declaration (see
http://www.erac.gov.au/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=107&Itemid=557)
which is required when the supplier registers and that is part of a responsible supplier process
(see http://www.erac.gov.au/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=105&Itemid=555).
Level 2 – product registration would be required, but at present there are no level 2 products
(see http://www.erac.gov.au/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=111&Itemid=561)
Level 3 – Each product or family must be registered by a registered supplier, have a valid
certificate of conformity from a recognised certifier and have the compliance mark (C-tick or
RCM). Details of compliance for level 3 products are available from
http://www.erac.gov.au/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=110&Itemid=560
Australian “Certificates of Conformity” are provided only by approved test houses. Details are at:
http://www.erac.gov.au/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=118&Itemid=567
More approved certifiers are listed at http://www.jasanz.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=44&Itemid=1
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2.2
Safety standards
Australia and New Zealand have published their own versions of international standards.
Manufacturers are expected to choose the most appropriate products and ensure that they
comply. Mandatory obligations are as follows:
Level 1: If there is not a specific AS or AS/NZS standard that applies to the equipment type but
there is an International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) standard that applies, then the IEC
standard together with AS/NZS3820 applies. If there is no IEC standard then AS/NZ3820 alone
applies
For Level 2 & Level 3 equipment:
•
The relevant standards are shown in AS/NZS 4417.2 as the relevant standard that can
be readily applied to the equipment type, or;
•
Is accepted by the electrical safety regulator as a standard that can be readily applied to
the equipment type and following a process outlined in the Equipment Safety Rules.
AS/NZS 4417.2 contains the definitions for higher risk electrical equipment (Level 2 and 3) that
will require registration and also details the relevant standards that Level 2 and Level 3 type
equipment are required to meet.
3.
EMC
Australian EMC legal requirements are slightly different to the EU. As far as the legal
requirements are concerned, there are three EMC risk levels (described at
http://www.acma.gov.au/Industry/Suppliers/Equipment-regulation/EMC-Electromagneticcompatibility/device-compliance-levels-fact-sheet ), not to be confused with the three safety
levels described in section 2 above.
Low risk – must comply with applicable standards; it is supplier’s discretion as to what evidence
to have available. Do not need to have a DoC, to label products or hold a product description.
Examples include most battery powered devices such as torches, watches and toys. Battery
powered devices are low risk unless ACMA has declared that they are medium risk. However,
note that devices that are powered by external power supplies or connect directly to chargers to
charge internal batteries are not regarded as battery powered devices such as:
•
USB devices (these are powered via the USB port)
•
Tablets and portable MP3 players that connect to an external power source for charging
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•
Automotive devices (these connect to the car’s battery which is an external power
source)
•
Inverters
•
Ethernet powered devices.
Products whose batteries can be charged without removal from the equipment will be medium
risk products, whereas products that use primary batteries would usually be low risk.
Medium risk – is not “high risk” but has one or more of the following:
•
A switch mode power supply
•
A transistor switching circuit
•
A microprocessor
•
A commutator
•
A slip-ring motor
•
An electronic device operating in a switching or non-linear mode.
Examples include televisions, laptops, computers, mobile phone chargers, compact fluorescent
lamps, etc.
High risk - A high risk device is a device described as 'Group 2 ISM equipment' in AS/NZS
CISPR 11:2004 (2nd Edition). The requirements for high risk devices is the same as medium
risk devices except the test report must be an accredited test report from an accredited testing
body. Examples of products include induction heating equipment and electric welding
equipment
Medium and high risk products must have the following:
•
Declaration of Conformity using form CO2 available from
http://www.acma.gov.au/Industry/Suppliers/Supplier-resources/Supplier-overview/equipmentcompliance-forms. This is different to an EU DoC and requires either an ACMA supplier code
number or ABN number. This form is to be retained by Farnell Australia (element 14) and made
available to ACMA if requested.
•
Maintain compliance records (for at least five years) as described in the “Information on
labelling and record-keeping” available from
http://www.acma.gov.au/~/media/Technical%20Regulation%20Development/Publication/pdf/EM
C_Booklet_pdf.pdf
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Safety and EMC legislation
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•
Compliance marks: C-tick mark to be replaced by RCM mark (by 1 March 2016).
3.1
Standards and mandatory technical requirements
All products covered by the EMC legislation (low, medium and high risk) must comply with
applicable technical standards listed on its website. These are all equivalent to IEC and CISPR
standards and the website gives brief details of scope and mandatory requirements, however
ACMA only mandates performance requirements in relation to emissions, therefore compliance
to standards within this list is only required to the extent that matters within the standard that
relate to interference to: (a) radio-communications; and, (b) any uses or functions of devices.
4.
Radio-telecommunications
This is equivalent to the EU’s R&TTE directive and compliant products are marked with the Ctick mark at present, but will use the RCM mark in the future. There are mandatory requirements
such as:
•
Compliance with standards
•
Compliance marking (mandatory only for medium and high risk)
•
Compliance records.
As with safety and EMC, there are three levels for low, medium and high risk devices (similar
definitions as for EMC). Mandatory requirements for medium and high risk products are:
•
Medium risk: A Test report from a testing body is required or obtain a “technical
construction file” to show compliance with applicable standards
•
High risk: Obtain accredited test report or obtain a “technical construction file” to show
compliance with applicable standards.
Work with suppliers as appropriate using this exclusive document.
With thanks to Dr Paul Goodman at ERA Technology
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Safety and EMC legislation
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Classification: Internal