The EMC requirements are quite complex, and there are slightly different standards to the EU and America
The Australian Communications and Media Authority look over and oversee regulating Australian EMC Standards and the requirements known as the AMCA Standards.
AMCA Standards are very similar and, in some places, the same as EU Standards.
What Do Manufacturers Need to Know
Manufactures must ensure that their products mee the requirements of the AMCA standards. This will be sufficient to sell products within Australia and New Zealand, it also covers the EU.
Problems can be encountered when trying to ship products to countries like the US, Canda or Japan as their standards are different.
How EMC Testing Works
EMC is to ensure that products do not interfere or be interfered with by other electronic devices. As you may be aware all electronic/electrical products emit small amounts of RF noise, a product well designed will limit this noise allowing compliance to standards.
Australian EMC regulations are strict for how products should behave and require that they are tested in an accredited test lab.
Once tested and passed just like the EU a Declaration of Conformity is produced to demonstrate compliance with EMC.
The manufacture of the product is required to register the product tested to a national database of accredited/complaint products and apply a compliance marking to the product, to the packaging or both.
The manufacture must ensure that the correct standards have been applied to there product. There are a lot of standards for different types of products, its best to consult with a test lab to ensure the correct standards are applied.
Tests covered:
- Emissions
- Susceptibility
- Coupling
Emissions are related to how electromagnetic energy is generated by a product and released into the environment.
Meanwhile, susceptibility relates to how a product might malfunction and how such malfunctions might result in unintended operation. Coupling relates to the way that interference might reach a victim.
EMC Product marking
Mandated EMC Standards
Useful Links
Australian Commissions and Media Authority ACMA Web Site
Home – EMC Compliance Wiki – Latest Standards – FCC vs CISPR – Fast Transient Bursts – GDPR
