EMC Directive deadlines and compliance calendar

Directive 2014/30/EU was adopted on 26 February 2014 and published in the Official Journal on 29 March 2014. Member States had to adopt and publish national transposition measures by 19 April 2016 and apply those measures from 20 April 2016.

For product calendars, the practical cutover is 20 April 2016. From that date, apparatus newly placed on the EU market needs the Directive 2014/30/EU conformity basis, while equipment already placed on the market before that date under Directive 2004/108/EC could continue to be made available or put into service under the directive's transitional provision.

The EMC Directive calendar is not a one-time filing schedule. Each release, variant, design change, supplier change, or standard update should reopen the release gate if it can affect electromagnetic compatibility or the conformity basis.

Before placing apparatus on the market, manufacturers must draw up technical documentation, carry out the relevant conformity assessment procedure, draw up the EU declaration of conformity, and affix CE marking when compliance has been demonstrated. Importers have a separate gate before placing apparatus on the market: they must check that the conformity assessment was carried out, the technical documentation was drawn up, CE marking is present, required documents accompany the apparatus, and manufacturer identification duties were met.

Start the retention clock from the date the apparatus is placed on the market. Manufacturers must keep the technical documentation and EU declaration of conformity for 10 years after that date. Importers must keep a copy of the EU declaration of conformity for the same 10-year period and ensure the technical documentation can be made available to market-surveillance authorities on request.

Authorised representatives can be mandated to keep the EU declaration of conformity and technical documentation at the disposal of national market-surveillance authorities for 10 years, but the manufacturer's duty to draw up the technical documentation is not part of the authorised representative mandate.

Harmonised standards are a live calendar item because presumption of conformity depends on references published in the Official Journal. The Commission's EMC standards page states that, since 1 December 2018, references are published in and withdrawn from the OJ by Commission implementing decisions.

Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2019/1326 is the EMC standards decision baseline in the grounding set. Its consolidated 10 June 2022 version shows amendments through Implementing Decision (EU) 2022/910 and states that Annex I references are published in the OJ while Annex II references are withdrawn from the OJ from the dates set out in that annex.

The EMC Directive does not give a universal number of days for every authority request in the grounded text. It uses event-based timing: economic operators must cooperate with market-surveillance authorities as necessary, authorities act without delay where non-compliance presents a risk, and corrective action periods are set by the authority in proportion to the nature of the risk.

If a market-surveillance authority finds non-compliance during an evaluation of apparatus presenting a risk, it must require the relevant economic operator, without delay, to bring the apparatus into compliance, withdraw it, or recall it within a reasonable period prescribed by the authority. If adequate corrective action is not taken within that period, the authority moves to provisional restrictive measures and informs the Commission and other Member States without delay.