This post is by Steve Hayes, EMC & Safety Managing Director, TRaC
The European Commission has recently published (1 June 2011) a proposal that promotes more standards across the EU. The aim of this proposal is to provide manufacturers with a more precise set of requirements to enable consumers to more easily compare products, leading to increased competition around the EU (and the rest of the world).
The issue with standards is the time that they take to produce - from personal experience I have worked on a standard that took 7 years to be published and I appreciate manufacturers' frustrations in getting a standard that caters for the latest technology.
The European Commission has recently published (1 June 2011) a proposal that promotes more standards across the EU. The aim of this proposal is to provide manufacturers with a more precise set of requirements to enable consumers to more easily compare products, leading to increased competition around the EU (and the rest of the world).
The issue with standards is the time that they take to produce - from personal experience I have worked on a standard that took 7 years to be published and I appreciate manufacturers' frustrations in getting a standard that caters for the latest technology.
As a result the Commission is proposing that more SME's get involved with standards. It is a step in the right direction as many of the current standards represent the wishes of the large multinational organisation rather than an industry consensus.
Key to the proposals will be the way that the aims and wishes of the Commission translate to the real world - many SME's don't get involved with standards as they don't have the time and many take a long time due to political agendas rather than technical merit.
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Key to the proposals will be the way that the aims and wishes of the Commission translate to the real world - many SME's don't get involved with standards as they don't have the time and many take a long time due to political agendas rather than technical merit.
Some
previous Certification & Test entries:
* What does a UKAS schedule mean?
* Improve temperature testing by optimising chamber airflow and distribution
* Which standard should I apply?
* Are EMC Standards Really Necessary?
* Standards really do help the economy
* Spot the difference - Why military products need CE marking
* Safety Standards for Military applications
* 9 months to go until testing above 1GHz is a reality - are you ready?
* EMC - It's all in the cables!
* Which CE badge have you got?
* Safety product approval for Mexico has become easier!
* When is a Standard deemed acceptable to demonstrate compliance to the EMC Directive?
* Gap analysis simplifies CE approval of military products
* Three key directives for CE-marked military products
* How do I know if this military product needs CE marking?
* New Official Journal for the EMC Directive published
* Are Electric Vehicles Safe from Electrical Interference?
* What does a UKAS schedule mean?
* Improve temperature testing by optimising chamber airflow and distribution
* Which standard should I apply?
* Are EMC Standards Really Necessary?
* Standards really do help the economy
* Spot the difference - Why military products need CE marking
* Safety Standards for Military applications
* 9 months to go until testing above 1GHz is a reality - are you ready?
* EMC - It's all in the cables!
* Which CE badge have you got?
* Safety product approval for Mexico has become easier!
* When is a Standard deemed acceptable to demonstrate compliance to the EMC Directive?
* Gap analysis simplifies CE approval of military products
* Three key directives for CE-marked military products
* How do I know if this military product needs CE marking?
* New Official Journal for the EMC Directive published
* Are Electric Vehicles Safe from Electrical Interference?
* The best engineer jokes
* Four things Electronics Engineers should know about Shock and Vibration
After obtaining his Bachelor's degree in engineering, Jonathan worked for a number of engineering companies prior to obtaining a teaching role at the University of Hull (England). In 1995 he joined KTL, an internationally renowned test laboratory which then became TRaC, as part of the Digital Group specialising in regulatory requirements for digital telecommunications equipment. During his time at the company he has, among other things, been appointed as Senior Protocol Engineer, and Approvals and Homologation Group Manager. Jonathan has actively participated in various technical working groups for the ZigBee Allianceâ and is currently the ZigBee Qualification Group (ZQG) Lead Technical Editor. 
Steve is Managing Director for the EMC and Safety business of TRaC and has been involved in EMC and product approvals for 19 years. In addition to the day to day running of the business, Steve is actively involved in EMC standardisation both in commercial and defence areas. In addition to being the UK Principal expert on EMC standardisation of Industrial, Scientific and Medical (ISM) products he is also the convenor of CISPR/B/WG1 who has the responsibility of writing the International standard, CISPR 11. Steve wrote the CE marking annex to the UK's defence EMC standard as well as being co-convenor of CENELEC TC210/WG9, responsible for writing a guide on approval of military systems with commercial (CE Marking) requirements.
Joe Lomako MSc is the Business Development Manager of Telecoms and Radio at TRaC. He has been involved in the testing and compliance industry for over 15 years. Prior to joining TRaC Joe specialised in EMC, EMF Exposure and Radio compliance.
Appointed Test Manager in 2007, following three years as Projects Manager at TRaC, having previously worked as Head of Environmental Testing at another UKAS accredited test house. Over 20 years' experience of modelling, testing and measurement in the structural dynamics and seismic fields.
Chris has worked in electrical safety compliance for over 17 years. Having previously worked for BSI, he joined TRaC in 1996, progressing through a number of testing roles before becoming Safety Product Manager in 2006.
Appointed Commercial Manager - Analysis in November 2009. Prior to joining TRaC, he was the Business Development Manager at Onward Technologies, an engineering services company based in India. Graham has spent over 20 years working in the CAD / CAE domain selling both engineering services and engineering systems. 
Stephen Tait joined KTL, an internationally renowned test laboratory which then became TRaC, as part of the Telecom Group specialising in telecommunications product testing for worldwide approvals. Stephen is also responsible for the Telecoms commercial activities within the TRaC group.
Simon Barrowcliff is the Director of the ATEX Notified Body at TRaC. He set up TRaC's Lancashire-based, ATEX business in 2002 and has been heavily involved in EX testing and compliance since then. Simon also runs TRaC's certification schemes for electrical safety under the IECEE CB scheme. He is a chartered electrical engineer with more than 20 years experience of product compliance for electrical and mechanical equipment.
Appointed Managing Director in November 2007. Previously he was Test Facilities Manager for Flight Refuelling, part of the Cobham group, and spent his early career in the Environmental Engineering Department of British Aerospace at Stevenage.
Brendan was appointed Sales Director in August 2009. He joined the group in 2005 as Business Development Manager for environmental test services. Before joining TRaC he spent five years in Application Engineering and Technical Sales roles for automotive test equipment. He studied Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering at Trinity College Dublin.
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