PTT approvals - Requirements for Datacom Italy and Europe

The European Community went through a strong deregulation process in 1999 for all Telecommunications devices subject to regulatory requirements. As a result of that, the local PTTs offices stopped to requesting compliances to country’s specific PTT regulations and related local process of getting approvals, and moved to 1999/05/EC (R&TTE) directive. In those European Countries, EC compliance is now fulfilled in the following way: the manufacturer of the datacom product submits the device to only one of the Official Notified bodies for a conformity check. The Notified Body will perform a test cycle on the product and once the test is passed, it will keep the complete test report and release an Approval Conformity Certification to the manufacturer. A copy of the certification is usually translated and shipped together with the product (e.g. printed in the user guide) and is valid across all the European Countries.

In Italy as well as a few other Countries, the Ministry of Communication has transposed/adopted the European 1999/05/EC (R&TTE) directive into national laws, and there is a national specific procedure to fulfil. For Telecommunication and Datacomm manufacturers, there is an important difference to consider in order to understand what kind of approval procedure the product is subject to. If the device is intended to be used by the end user, in their home, and is a product such as a phone or a modem, it will not need any extra approval action to be taken into Italy. The European Certification released by the Certified Body be valid in Italy with no need further to engage other local PTT Approvals. If the Telecommunication or Datacomm device is intended to be installed in the Telecom exchange or in any other place rather than the end user’s home, it has to be locally approved according the law (law “D.P.R. nr. 507, 9th December 1998). If this is the case, the device is seen as a “network terminal“. As a consequence of that, the Manufacturer that is willing to perform an Italian PTT approval, should prepare all the necessary documentation (electrical schematics, bom list, application form) and two test units to submit to the PTT Lab’s test. If the entire test is passed, the Certificate of Approval will be issue in around one month. The Manufacturers of products subjected to PTT approvals that are not submitted for the test procedure, will be considered as shipping an illegal product and prosecuted by law. Regarding the, a specific Italian PPT approval process must be followed. Products category such as Wi-Fi devices, Hyperlan2, MiMo, WiMAX, still need to be certified according to the art. 6.4 Directive 99/5/CE and DLgs 1.8.2003 n. 259 art.104 and D.M 28/5/03. This process is called “Immissione sul mercato” (translation: “entry in the market” or “release in the market”). There are no real hw tests performed on the device but the paperwork is generated by the Italian Ministry of Communication who certify the test report released by the European Body. Also in this case, the “Immissione sul mercato” certificate will be available in a month or so after the testing. The “Immissione sul mercato” is mandatory and products without that Certificate could be removed from the shelves of the shops by the Postal Police. For more information on PTT approvals, regulations, conformity certifications, lab tests, CE marking, ROHS, WEEE, RAEEE, etc. - please feel free to contact me info@trendeurope.com