EMC/EMI/ESD Standards for Commercial Electronic Products

dBi Corporation


A2LA Accredited Laboratory
Certificate Number 1985-01

John R. Barnes KS4GL, PE, NCE, NCT, ESDC Eng, ESDC Tech, PSE, SM IEEE
January 6, 2010
jrbarnes@iglou.com

Many nations and market areas require commercial electronic products to meet certain electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) standards before they may be marketed and sold there. The European Union (EU), and to a growing extent Australia and New Zealand, also require commercial electronic products to meet certain: Determining just which standards apply to a product-- and will apply for the foreseeable future-- can be difficult, because these standards are constantly changing. At irregular intervals, nations and market areas:

These web pages have brief summaries of 330+ standards/ amendments in 120 families of EMC/EMI/ESD standards for the types of commercial electronic products that dBi tests for clients. To help you find pertinent standards, they are indexed:


These web pages summarize current worldwide EMC/EMI/ESD requirements by product type:


This section has links to brief summaries of EMC/EMI/ESD standards for:

Some families of United States (US) EMC/EMI/ESD standards are:

Some families of Canadian EMC/EMI/ESD standards are:

Some families of European Union (EU) EMC/EMI/ESD standards are:

Even if you think you know which EU standards (European Norms (EN's)) apply to a product, I suggest skimming through the titles of all the Harmonized Standards under the EMC Directive, Directive 2004/108/EC, as a doublecheck:

  1. Go to the EUR-Lex search page.
  2. Type "2004/108/EC" in the Search for box, and hit Enter.
  3. Click on "pdf" under recent entries titled "Commission communication in the framework of the implementation of Directive 2004/108/EC ...". (For example, in mid December 2009 the most recent full listing was OJ C 126, dated 5.6.2009 (June 5, 2009), with a small correction OJ C 197, dated 21.8.2009 (August 21, 2009).
  4. Look through the entire list, because Emission and Immunity standards for a product family aren't always close to one another.
  5. The Harmonics (EN 61000-3-2) and Flicker (EN 61000-3-3) standards apply to all alternating-current- (AC-) powered products.

To find more information about recent EN standards, such as the most recent version(s) and amendment(s) if you have an undated reference:

  1. Go to the CENELEC home page
  2. Type the standard number (without the "EN") in the Database search box, and hit Enter.
  3. Click on the link for the standard/ amendment (an "Fp" means that work on this document is still in process, and it has not yet been approved).
  4. If the Reference document: line says "(Modified)", the EN standard differs from the reference standard.
  5. Dav (date of availability) is the date that the EN standard/ amendment is released to the National Standards Bodies in all of the EU's official languages. These Bodies then have until the Dop (date of publication) to publish the standard/ amendment.
  6. Dow (date of withdrawal) is the latest date at which any conflicting (earlier) national standards must be withdrawn. This is usually the same as the Date of cessation of presumption of conformity of the superceded standard (DOCOPOCOSS) in lists of Harmonized Standards in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJ). But if they disagree, use the DOCOPOCOSS.

Some families of Australian and New Zealand EMC/EMI/ESD standards are:

AS/NZS standards have a 2-year transition period. If they apply to a product, we must start using them within 2 years after they are published.

To find an Australia/ New Zealand standard corresponding to an EN, CISPR, or IEC standard:

  1. Go to SAI Global.
  2. In the Search box, type a standard number ("EN xxxxx", "CISPR xx", "IEC xxxxx", etc.) and hit Enter.
  3. Look for an AS/NZS standard with a similar number.
  4. If the description says MOD, the AS/NZS standard differs from the reference standard in some way.
  5. Click on the description to read about the AS/NZS standard.
  6. If it has Preview under the description, click on this to read the first few pages of the standard.

Some families of Japanese EMC/EMI/ESD standards are:

Some families of Chinese EMC/EMI/ESD standards are:

Some families of Taiwanese EMC/EMI/ESD standards are:

The majority of worldwide EMC/EMI/ESD standards are based on, or exact copies of:

CISPR and IEC standards are recommendations, and don't become legal requirements until they are adopted by a nation or market area-- unchanged or with modifications. The adopting nation/ market area also decides when its version of the CISPR/ IEC standard takes effect, and how long it will remain in effect.

Some families of CISPR and IEC standards are:

To find additional information about a recent CISPR or IEC standard:

  1. Go to the IEC search page .
  2. In the Reference area, choose the appropriate header (CISPR, IEC, etc.) and type the reference standard's number in the number, part, and section boxes, then click on Submit.
  3. Click on the link for the CISPR/ IEC standard you want.
  4. If you are lucky, you will see a preview box after the title of the standard-- click on it to read the first few pages of the standard.


These web pages group the EMC/EMI/ESD standards by the types of phenomena they cover:


All together, this web site summarizes the following families of EMC/EMI/ESD standards:

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank John Fessler, Helge Knudsen, Dan Kinney, Scott Douglas, Michael Loerzer, and Richard Woods for their help on this project.

DISCLAIMER
These web pages are freely offered to anyone who wishes to use them. No warranty for their use is expressed or implied. The most-current versions may be downloaded from the our web site at http://www.dbicorporation.com/.

These web pages can point you to regulations and standards applying to your product(s), but please refer to the regulations and standards themselves when deciding how to test your product(s). A regulation's or standard's title gives you strong clues as to what it covers, but its scope (usually section 1) tells you for sure. Carefully check the footnotes in tables, to see if your product falls into an exception that lets you avoid unnecessary tests (or sometimes requires additional special testing). Exceptions that can help you also sometimes hide in the Test Setup section (usually section 7). Also check the Test Report section (usually section 10) for any special documentation required.

COMMENTS
If you refer to one or more of these documents in written communications, please attribute them to http://www.dbicorporation.com/. Similarly, if you link to them from your own web page(s), we would appreciate an E-mail to jrbarnes@iglou.com giving the universal resource link (URL) so that we may provide a reciprocal link.

Please send critiques, corrections, and/or additions to jrbarnes@iglou.com , or by snailmail to:
John Barnes
dBi Corporation
216 Hillsboro Ave
Lexington, KY 40511-2105

Robust Electronic Design, Inc. is the research arm of dBi Corporation, an A2LA-accredited EMC/EMI/ESD testing and consulting company based in Lexington, Kentucky. Our staff has been directly involved in putting over 115 major electronic products into mass production at Sycor, IBM, and Lexmark, as well as doing the EMC/ EMI/ ESD engineering tests and FCC/ CE-Marking approval tests for over 231 products and 3 testers developed by clients-- bringing them into compliance with both domestic and international laws and standards. Our staff has also served as an expert witness on electronics in three lawsuits. We have over 36 years experience in the computer and electronics industries developing electronic products and electronic equipment that:
  1. Work.
  2. Are safe and reliable.
  3. Can be manufactured, tested, repaired, and serviced economically.
  4. May be sold and used worldwide.
  5. Can be easily adapted/enhanced to meet new and changing requirements.

Our President, John R. Barnes, is a Professional Engineer (PE) licensed in the state of Kentucky, a NARTE-Certified Electromagnetic Compatibility Engineer (NCE), a NARTE-Certified Electromagnetic Compatibility Technician (NCT), a NARTE-Certified Electrostatic Discharge Control Engineer (ESDC Eng), a NARTE-Certified Electrostatic Discharge Control Technician (ESDC Tech), a NARTE-Certified Product Safety Engineer (PSE), a Senior Member of the IEEE (SM IEEE), and an Advanced-class amateur radio operator. He has written three books: Electronic System Design: Interference and Noise Control Techniques, which was published in English in 1987 and in Russian in 1990; and Robust Electronic Design Reference Book, Volumes I and II, which came out in 2004. John has also written articles on designing electronics for electrostatic discharge (ESD) immunity for Printed Circuit Design and Conformity magazines.

Robust Electronic Design, Inc. and dBi Corporation may be contacted by:

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Last revised January 6, 2010.