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UL Standards Update: October 16-31, 2009

Underwriters Laboratories has announced the availability of the following standards, revisions and bulletins.  For additional information regarding the standards listed below, please visit their website at www.... Read More...

Update on CISPR Standards: What’s New Above 9 kHz

The global recession has not prevented EMC standardization work from marching relentlessly forward. Work within CISPR is no exception and this year delegates and experts will meet in Lyon, France in September under the auspices of the current chairman Don Heirman (US) and secretary Steve Colclough (UK). For those of you new to EMC, CISPR is an international special committee on radio interference within the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). As defined on the IEC website for CISPR, CISPR’s principal task is at the higher end of the frequency range, from 9 kHz upwards, preparing standards that offer protection of radio reception from interference sources such as electrical appliances of all types, the electricity supply system, industrial, scientific and electromedical RF, broadcasting receivers (sound and TV) and, increasingly, IT equipment (ITE). Following is a brief overview of the scope of CISPR’s current activities in 2009, close to 75 years after its founding in 1935.

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US vs Recent Canadian Rules for Ultra-Wideband Radio Operations

With the publication of Industry Canada RSS-220 in March of this year, manufacturers are now able to certify and market their UWB (Ultra-Wideband) equipment in Canada. Following the publication of FCC (Federal Communications Commission) UWB rules in Part 15 Subpart F by 7 years, the new RSS-220 rules largely follow FCC equipment categories and limits. However, the Industry Canada limits are more stringent in part than the FCC’s for hand held and indoor communication devices. Test methods and equipment labeling also differ somewhat between the FCC and IC rules.

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Certification: A Panacea for a Paranoid Society?

The “Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval” was launched in 1909 by Good Housekeeping Magazine. The publication, a first in consumer protection (in the early Spring of social advocacy) guaranteed satisfactory use of products that bore their Seal. The guarantee states that “if any product that bears our Seal or is advertised in this issue (with certain exceptions) proves to be defective within two years from the date it was first sold to a consumer by an authorized retailer, we, Good Housekeeping, will replace the product or refund the purchase price.”