Approvals/Consulting:
Approval Specialists will be open over the holiday season with the exception of public holidays
Test Labs:
Austest Labs will be closed from midday Christmas eve 24th Dec and will reopen Monday 4th Jan 2010 for business as usual.
Harvest Labs will only be closed for public holidays and will be open with full staff at all other times.
Merry Christmas & have a safe New Year to all.
WiMax approval for imported devices is not possible in Australia at the moment as the ACMA have not established a class licencing system, therefore each item must have an individual licence depending on where it is operated. For customer premises type devices, this is simply impractical. Here’s a summary:
Current approved Australian WiMAX bands are:
· 2.3GHz MDS B Band (2.302GHz – 2.400GHz)
· 3.4GHz Lower Band (3.425GHz – 3.475GHz)
· 3.4GHz Upper Band A (3.475GHz – 3.4925GHz)
· 3.4GHz Upper Band B (3.5425GHz – 3.575GHz)
WiMAX devices operating in frequency bands other than the above are prohibited in Australia.
WiMAX operation in Australia is managed by respective Spectrum License Holders (i.e. license issued to an individual or a company for part of the spectrum in specific geographical areas that covers all devices in those geographical areas. The licensee grants third parties permission to operate transmitters under their license). Spectrum License Holders must ensure that devices, operating under their licenses, comply with the conditions of their licenses. Therefore, any device operating in the licensed spectrum bands must have the permission of the Spectrum License Holders, and comply with the technical requirements imposed by the Spectrum Licence Holders in the geographical areas the devices will be used. A list of current Spectrum License Holders can be viewed at this link – http://web.acma.gov.au/pls/radcom/spectrum_search.cat_listing. Importers of WiMAX devices will have to approach the Spectrum License Holders directly to obtain the necessary compliance requirements set out by them.
Importers of WiMAX devices are reminded that in addition to the Spectrum License Holders’ requirements, the devices must also comply with relevant mandated Australian requirements, such as Electromagnetic Interference (EMI), Electrical Safety, Minimum Energy Performance Standard (MEPS), Electromagnetic Radiation (EMR)-Human Exposure.
We will provide an update if/when the situation changes.
VCCI Council will commence enforcement of radiated disturbance limits above 1GHz for products subject to conformity verification report filing on and after October 1, 2010.
Curiously, for one year until September 2011 it is up to each member to decide whether or not they will opt in conformity assessment tests above 1GHz.
Confused ? The VCCI are asking very nicely for companies to comply with the new limits prior to Sept 2011 ” let us ask you to positively go ahead and ship products conforming to the 1GHz+ requirement by filing conformity verification reports on and after October 1, 2010 as if there were no 1-year grace period. This is because VCCI runs its operation based on CISPR standards transposed to Japanese standard by the Information and Communication Committee, and July 2007 Japanese standard says implementation of 1GHz+ should start in 2010.”
Background for 1-year grace period
EU Official Journal issued on August 21, 2009 states the valid period of EN55022:1998, European equivalence of CISPR22 Edition 3, is extended ubtil September 30, 2011. With this extension manufactures can select either CISPR22 Edition 3 or Edition 5 for product conformity until September 30, 2011.
Similarly US FCC has announced that conformity assessment test can be based either on ANSI C63.4-2009 or ANSI C63.4-2003.
Under such circumstances it is necessary for VCCI Council to establish the 1-year grace period for avoidance of creating potential technical barrier to trade against overseas product to be distributed in Japan and, at the same time, for affording Japanese manufacturers flexibility in choice of marketable products in the grace period.
(Courtesy VCCI Council).
Effective 1 Jan 2010, the Korea Customs Service has amended customs importation procedures for all products falling under the scope of KCC approval.
The Ministry of Justice, Republic of Korea, has revised the designated notice of goods, per ”"Notice of Korea Customs Service, No. 2009-115 and Article 226 of Customs Act”, with the revised notice effective as of January 01, 2010.
In summary, all products imported into Sth Korea must have an existing KCC approval in order to complete customs clearance. This new examination of all products clearing customs is to ensure products designated for the Korean market have appropriate KCC certificates.
The procedure for importation of test samples prior to obtaining approval has not yet been released…..we will provide further updates as they come available. For more information, contact http://www.approvalspecialists.com/contact_us/contact_us
Independent of Host (IOH) module certification in Japan for either wireless or wireline devices is subject to the following conditions:
Austest Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide can now perform RoHS testing of electrical components and printed circuit boards for manufacturers and exporters seeking compliance with CE marking requirements under the RoHS Directive.
The RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances) Directive, took effect within European Union member states on the 1st of July 2006 and restricts the use of six hazardous materials in the manufacture of various types of electronic and electrical equipment. The 6 substances are Lead (Pb), Mercury (Hg) Cadmium (Cd), Hexavalent chromium (Cr6+) Polybrominated biphenyls (PBB) and Polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE).
Austest provides a non destructive test in conformance to IEC 62321 of your product for these substances and provides a test report suitable as evidence of compliance with the above directive, in most cases for less than $1000, with multiple products attracting a hefty discount. Contact our Sydney office for more details. http://www.austest.com.au/contact_us.php
Here’s a summary of NCC approval requirements for Wireless Lan devices
Firstly, it’s important to note that Notebook PCs equipped with WLAN, BT or WWAN modules can’t be certified as a system approval. Certification can only be achieved as a limited module within a specific host. The model and brand name of the laptop/host will then be listed on the certificate.
The applicant can be the module manufacturer or the Notebook PC manufacturer.
For WWAN modules applying for NCC approval, the main tests will be CNS 13438 and PLMN01/PLMN08. Safety testing will be required when the EUT is a headset or some platforms such as laptop PCs with WWAN modules inside. Per NCC 20090211 Technical Meeting Minutes, “platform” is defined as a device with multi-functions, for example, Notebook PC, fax machine; PDA, cell phone, USB modem dongle, game player are excluded.
CNS 14958-1 & CNS 14959 SAR testing is required only when the devices are designed to be used on a persons head, for example, cell phones.
For Class II permissive changes due to alternate/additional antennas used with a certified WWAN module, the ID will remain the same as the original. The technical justification policy of alternating antennas is same as LP0002 as follows:
Per NCC 20090602 Technical Meeting Minutes, all antennas’ specifications and photos shall be documented and submitted for review; and per NCC 20090406 Technical Meeting Minutes, all antennas submitted will be listed into NCC certificate as LP0002 applications.
For Class II permissive changes for adding a portable host as a laptop PC, additional tests of CNS 13438 EMI and CNS 14336 or IEC 60950-1 Safety tests are required. The ID will be the same as the original per NCC 20090427 Technical Meeting Minutes.
For WWAN devices applying for NCC applications, additional tests are required as follows, despite the tests being specified in the related standards of PLMN01 and PLMN08:
Requests for Taiwan approvals can be made thru our approval specialists website contact page, http://www.approvalspecialists.com/contact_us/contact_us