Electronics firms fight plans for ‘unnecessary’ standards

Date: 06/04/2000

By Peter Chapman

LEADING companies from around the world with operations in the EU are campaigning against the launch next year of an "unnecessary" new Union standard for their equipment which could cost them a massive €50 billion.

Their concern centres on a new, tougher 'norm' governing the manufacture of virtually all electrical and electronic equipment from personal computers, stereo systems and televisions to heavy industrial machinery.

The standard, developed by the Brussels-based electrical standards body CENELEC, is designed to prevent disruption to mains power supplies caused by interference from such kit - known as 'harmonics' - which can cause fires and power surges on networks.

The move is supported by power-generation companies, but has been attacked by manufacturers who claim it will leave them facing an enormous bill.

Although the CENELEC norm is based on a world-wide standard developed by experts at the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), only the EU has made it obligatory. In other parts of the world, firms can decide for themselves whether they wish to comply with it.

Industry critics insist that the standard, which is due to enter into force in January 2001, is totally unnecessary for the European market because an existing, less stringent EU norm already tackles the harmonics problem. They also claim they would have to redesign production lines to comply with the new rules.

European industry has already voiced concerns about the move, and standards experts at the European Information and Communications Technology Industry Association (EICTA) met last week to discuss their lobbying strategy. Representatives of Japanese and American firms operating in the Union are also stepping up their campaign against the measure.

"The debate on harmonics started in the 1980s when some professors said that there might be problems. But many people now doubt whether harmonics is a problem except for heavy machinery," said Yutaka Hayami of the Japan Business Council in Europe, who added that there was no scientific evidence to show that the new standard was necessary.

Hayami said a US study had found that for information technology equipment alone, the cost of complying with the standard would be €3.3-5.6 billion, adding: "For electronics products as a whole, the cost to manufacturers world-wide is estimated at €50 billion."

Malcolm Bermange, chairman of the American Electronics Association's Europe standards committee, said US firms had written to the European Commission urging it to delay or cancel the launch of the norm.

In a letter to standards officials, Bermange, an executive with US copying company Xerox, argued that forcing firms to adopt a new standard would result in tonnes of perfectly "safe and serviceable" equipment which meets current norms being scrapped.

He said this would "aggravate the environmental situation" at a time when the Commission is finalising separate proposals to deal with the EU's growing mountain of electrical and electronic waste.