The Telecommunications Terminal Equipment Regulations 1992

PART I PRELIMINARY

Citation and commencement

1.  These Regulations may be cited as the Telecommunications Terminal Equipment Regulations 1992 and shall come into force on 6th November 1992.

Disapplication of legislation to telecommunications terminal equipment and consequential modification of approvals thereunder and of telecommunication system licences

2.—(1) Sections 22 and 84 of the Telecommunications Act 1984(1) and approvals given under either of those sections shall cease to apply to applicable terminal equipment on 6th November 1992.

(2) The said sections 22 and 84 shall be modified in their application to exempt terminal equipment so that the power to vary an approval given thereunder to the extent that it relates to such equipment shall not, on and after 6th November 1992, include the power to vary such an approval so as to—

(a) permit the connection of the terminal equipment concerned to any additional public telecommunication system; or

(b) relax the conditions which must be complied with if the approval is to apply.

(3) On 6th November 1992, the orders listed in Schedule 1 hereto (being orders made under sections 28 and 29 of the said Act of 1984 imposing certain requirements relating to the marking, labelling and advertisement of telecommunication apparatus) shall cease to apply in respect of—

(a) applicable terminal equipment; and

(b) connection-capable equipment and radio connection-capable equipment.

(4) Where a licence granted under section 7 of the said Act of 1984 to run a telecommunication system or a licence granted, or regulations made, under section 1 of the Wireless Telegraphy Act 1949(2) contain provisions (howsoever expressed) which are framed by reference to apparatus for the time being approved under section 22 or section 84 as the case may be of the said Act of 1984, then, on and after 6th November 1992, such provisions shall have effect, in so far as they relate to applicable terminal equipment, as if a reference (howsoever expressed) to apparatus for the time being approved under the said section 22 or section 84 as the case may be were a reference to applicable terminal equipment which complies with the requirements of regulation 8 of these Regulations.

Interpretation

3.—(1) In these Regulations, the “TTE Directive” means Council Directive 91/263/EEC on the approximation of the laws of the Member States concerning telecommunications terminal equipment, including the mutual recognition of their conformity(3).

(2) In these Regulations—

“the 1984 Act” means the Telecommunications Act 1984;

“additional approval” means an additional approval issued by—

(a)

a United Kingdom notified body pursuant to regulation 21 below; or

(b)

a notified body appointed by a member State other than the United Kingdom pursuant to point 6 of Annex I of the TTE Directive;

“applicable terminal equipment” shall be construed in accordance with regulation 4(2) to (6) below;

“approved product” means a type, or any of the several versions thereof, in respect of which an EC type-examination certificate is in force;

“authorised representative” means a person established within the Community appointed by the manufacturer (whether or not established within the Community) to act on his behalf;

“CE mark” has the meaning given by regulation 10(5)(a) below;

“the Commission” means the Commission of the European Communities;

“the Community” means the European Economic Community;

“conformity assessment requirements” shall be construed in accordance with regulation 9 below;

“conformity to type” shall be construed in accordance with regulation 24 below;

“connection-capable equipment” has the meaning given by regulation 4(4) below;

“connection marking requirements” shall be construed in accordance with regulation 10 below;

“connection symbol” has the meaning given by regulation 10(5)(c) below;

“the Council” means the Council of the European Communities;

“Council Directive 86/361/EEC” means Council Directive 86/361/EEC on the initial stage of the mutual recognition of type approval for telecommunications terminal equipment(4);

“designated test laboratory” has the meaning given by regulation 57(b) below;

“EC declaration of conformity” means a written declaration that applicable terminal equipment satisfies the relevant requirements of the TTE Directive drawn up by a manufacturer who has chosen to comply with the conformity assessment requirements pursuant to the EC declaration of conformity procedure pursuant to point 1 of Annex IV to the TTE Directive;

“EC declaration of conformity procedure” shall be construed in accordance with regulations 9(b) and 38(2) below;

“EC declaration of conformity to type” means a written declaration that applicable terminal equipment conforms with a type or modification as the case may be drawn up by a manufacturer (or, in the case of (a) below, alternatively by his authorised representative) who has chosen to comply with the conformity assessment requirements pursuant to the EC type-examination procedure pursuant to—

(a)

point 1 of Annex II to the TTE Directive where he has carried out conformity to type; or

(b)

point 1 of Annex III to that Directive, where he has carried out production quality assurance;

“EC type-examination certificate” means an EC type-examination certificate issued in respect of a type by—

(a)

a United Kingdom notified body pursuant to regulation 18 below as varied, where applicable, pursuant to regulation 22 below; or

(b)

a notified body of a member State pursuant to point 5 of Annex I of the TTE Directive;

“EC type-examination procedure” shall be construed in accordance with regulations 9(a) and 14(1) below;

“enforcement authority” shall be construed in accordance with regulation 61 below;

“exempt terminal equipment” has the meaning given by regulation 6(3) below;

“full quality assurance” shall be construed in accordance with regulation 38(2) below;

“full quality assurance approved quality system” means a quality system for design, manufacture and final product inspection and testing which is for the time being approved by—

(a)

a United Kingdom notified body pursuant to regulation 43 below, as modified where applicable pursuant to regulation 45 or 47 below; or

(b)

a notified body of a member State other than the United Kingdom pursuant to point 3 of Annex IV of the TTE Directive, including, where applicable, as modified pursuant to point 3.4 of the said Annex,

for the purposes of the EC declaration of conformity procedure;

“intended purpose declaration” has the meaning given by regulation 12(4) below;

“the Low Voltage Directive” means Council Directive 73/23/EEC on the harmonization of the laws of the Member States relating to electrical equipment designed for use within certain voltage limits(5);

“modification” means a change to an approved product where the change may affect the conformity with the essential requirements or the prescribed conditions for use of the product;

“non-connection symbol” has the meaning given by regulation 12(1)(d)(ii) below;

“notified body” means a body for carrying out the certification, product checks and associated surveillance tasks pertaining to the procedures referred to in Article 9 of the TTE Directive which is—

(a)

for the time being a United Kingdom notified body pursuant to regulation 50 below; or

(b)

for the time being recognised, and notified to the Commission, as a notified body for the purposes of that Directive, by a member State other than the United Kingdom pursuant to Article 10.1 of that Directive;

“notified body symbol” has the meaning given by regulation 10(5)(b) below;

“production quality assurance” shall be construed in accordance with regulation 27 below;

“production quality assurance approved quality system” means a quality system for production, final product inspection and testing which is for the time being approved by—

(a)

a United Kingdom notified body pursuant to regulation 31 below, as modified where applicable pursuant to regulation 33 or 35 below; or

(b)

a notified body of a member State other than the United Kingdom pursuant to point 3 of Annex III of the TTE Directive, including, where applicable, as modified pursuant to point 3.4 of the said Annex,

for the purposes of the production quality assurance part of the type-examination procedure;

“public telecommunications network” means—

(a)

in the United Kingdom, all public telecommunication systems; and

(b)

in any member State other than the United Kingdom, the public telecommuni-cations infrastructure which permits the conveyance of signals between defined network termination points by wire, by microwave, by optical means or by other electromagnetic means and which is recognised as a public telecommunications network in accordance with the laws of that member State;

“public telecommunication system” means any telecommunication system for the time being designated as a public telecommunication system by order made under section 9 of the 1984 Act;

“radio” means wireless telegraphy as defined in section 19(1) of the Wireless Telegraphy Act 1949;

“radio connection-capable equipment” has the meaning given by regulation 4(6) below;

“radio frequency spectrum” means that part of the electromagnetic spectrum at frequencies not exceeding 3,000 GHz;

“recognised test laboratory” has the meaning given by regulation 57(a) below;

“responsible person” means—

(a)

in relation to equipment manufactured in the United Kingdom, the manufacturer;

(b)

in relation to equipment manufactured outside the United Kingdom which is supplied or put into service, whichever is the earlier, without previously having been supplied or put into service in another member State, the manufacturer’s authorised representative established in the United Kingdom or the supplier or person who puts the equipment into service, as the case may be;

“supply” includes offering to supply, agreeing to supply, exposing for supply and possessing for supply, and cognate expressions shall be construed accordingly;

“technical documentation” means such documentation as is necessary to enable the conformity of a type (or all the versions thereof, where applicable) with the essential requirements to be assessed, and, without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, so far as is relevant for such assessment, documentation covering the design, manufacture and operation of the product; and “additional technical documentation” in relation to a modification means such documentation, when taken together with the technical documentation in respect of the approved type from which the modification derives, as is necessary to enable the conformity of the modification with the essential requirements or the prescribed conditions for use to be assessed;

“telecommunication apparatus”, “telecommunication service” and “telecommunication system” have the meanings respectively given by section 4 of the 1984 Act;

“third country relevant body” has the meaning given by regulation 57(c) below; and

“type” means a specimen of applicable terminal equipment, representative of the production envisaged, and a type may cover several versions of the product provided that the differences between the versions do not affect the level of safety and the other requirements concerning the performance of the product, and “ version” shall be construed accordingly.

(3) For the purposes of these Regulations, a common technical regulation is a measure adopted by the Commission in accordance with Article 6.2 of the TTE Directive, a reference of which has been published in the Official Journal of the European Communities, and which may be applied by any person from the date of such publication, and shall be applied from the date specified in it.

(4) For the purposes of these Regulations—

(a) a harmonized standard (except in regulations 31(2), 43(2), 51(3) and 58(10)) is a technical specification (European standard or harmonization document)—

(i) adopted for the purposes of Article 6.1 of the TTE Directive on the basis of a remit from the Commission in accordance with the provisions of Directive 83/189/EEC(6) by one of the bodies competent to adopt harmonized standards, that is to say—

(aa) the European Committee for Standardization (CEN);

(bb) the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (CENELEC); or

(cc) the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI); and

(ii) the reference number of which has been published in the Official Journal of the European Communities pursuant to that sub-article and which has not been withdrawn from the said Official Journal pursuant to Article 7 of the TTE Directive; and

(b) a relevant national standard is a standard—

(i) of a member State which implements a harmonized standard; and

(ii) in the case of a national standard of the United Kingdom, the reference number of which has been published by the Secretary of State in a notice in the London, Edinburgh and Belfast Gazettes in recognition of it as such and not withdrawn by means of a further such notice.

(5) For the purposes of these Regulations, terminal equipment shall be regarded as connected to a public telecommunications network, whether the system of connection may be by wire, radio, optical or other electromagnetic system, if—

(a) it is directly connected thereto, that is to say, it would be regarded as connected thereto for the purposes of the 1984 Act in accordance with section 4 thereof; or

(b) it is connected indirectly thereto, that is to say, it is not connected directly thereto but would be regarded as connected thereto for the purposes of the 1984 Act were section 4(6) omitted therefrom,

and “connected”, “connected directly” and “connected indirectly”, and expressions cognate to those expressions, shall be construed accordingly.

Terminal equipment

4.—(1) Subject to paragraphs (2) and (3) below, a reference to terminal equipment is a reference to connectable equipment, that is to say, equipment intended to be connected to the public telecommunications network, that is to say—

(a) to be connected directly to the termination of a public telecommunications network; or

(b) to interwork with a public telecommunications network being connected directly or indirectly to the termination of a public telecommunications network,

in order to send, process or receive information; and for purposes of these Regulations, equipment shall, subject to paragraphs (4) to (6) below, be taken to be intended for connection to a public telecommunications network if it is designed so as to be capable of such connection.

(2) Terminal equipment (other than equipment excluded from the scope of these Regulations by regulation 6(3) and (4) below) shall, subject to paragraphs (3), (4) and (6) of this regulation, be applicable terminal equipment.

(3) Terminal equipment in respect of which no common technical regulation is in force shall not be applicable terminal equipment; and for the purposes of these Regulations, a common technical regulation shall not be taken to be in force in respect of any terminal equipment, until the date specified in it from which it shall be applied.

(4) Terminal equipment other than equipment which makes use of a system of communication employing the radio frequency spectrum which would, except for the operation of this paragraph, be applicable terminal equipment, shall not be applicable terminal equipment if—

(a) the requirements of regulation 12 (relating to the intended purpose declaration) have been complied with; and

(b) the intended purpose of the equipment does not involve connection to a public telecommunications network, and for the purposes of this sub-paragraph, the intended purpose of the equipment shall be justified having regard to all the circumstances, and, without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, in particular to—

(i) its relevant technical characteristics;

(ii) its functions; and

(iii) indications of the market segment it is intended for,

and equipment which is not applicable terminal equipment pursuant to this paragraph is referred to in these Regulations as “connection-capable equipment”.

(5) Subject to paragraph (6) below, terminal equipment which makes use of a system of communication employing the radio frequency spectrum shall for the purposes of these Regulations be taken to be intended for connection to a public telecommunications network and accordingly shall, save as provided by paragraph (3) of this regulation and regulation 6(3) and (4) below, be taken to be applicable terminal equipment.

(6) Where equipment employing the radio frequency spectrum is designed to be capable of connection to a public telecommunications network if an adjustment were made thereto or a blocking mechanism were unblocked, that equipment shall not be regarded as applicable terminal equipment pursuant to paragraph (5) above unless such adjustment is made or such mechanism is unblocked, as the case may be, and equipment which is not applicable terminal equipment pursuant to this paragraph is referred to in these Regulations as “radio connection-capable equipment”.

Essential requirements

5.—(1) Subject to paragraphs (2) and (3) below, in these Regulations a reference to the essential requirements is a reference to the following requirements—

(a) user safety, in so far as this requirement is not covered by the Low Voltage Directive;

(b) safety of employees of public telecommunications networks operators, in so far as this requirement is not covered by the Low Voltage Directive;

(c) electromagnetic compatibility requirements in so far as they are specific to applicable terminal equipment(7);

(d) protection of the public telecommunications network from harm;

(e) effective use of the radio frequency spectrum, where appropriate;

(f) interworking of terminal equipment with public telecommunications network equipment for the purpose of establishing, modifying, charging for, holding and clearing real or virtual connection; and

(g) interworking of terminal equipment via the public telecommunications network, in justified cases.

(2) For the purposes of these Regulations, there shall be a presumption “the presumption of conformity”) that, unless the contrary is proved, applicable terminal equipment complies with the requirements referred to in sub-paragraphs (a) and (b) of paragraph (1) above if that equipment is in conformity with relevant national standards covering all of the relevant characteristics of the equipment.

(3) A reference to the requirements referred to in sub-paragraphs (c) to (g) of paragraph (1) above is a reference to those requirements as implemented in common technical regulations pursuant to the second indent of Article 6.2 of the TTE Directive.

(4) The essential requirements concerning interworking of applicable terminal equipment via the public telecommunications network in justified cases shall be the requirements provided for in measures adopted by the Commission pursuant to Article 4(g), and paragraph 3 or 4, as the case may be, of Article 14 of the TTE Directive.

(5) In this regulation, “justified cases” means the cases where terminal equipment supports—

(a) a reserved service according to Community law; or

(b) a service for which the Council has decided that there should be Community-wide availability.

Application and transitional provisions

6.—(1) These Regulations, except for regulation 12(1) and Schedules 4 and 5, apply to applicable terminal equipment which is not excluded from their application by paragraphs (3) and (4) below.

(2) Regulation 12(1) and Schedules 4 and 5 apply to connection-capable equipment and radio connection-capable equipment except where such equipment was first supplied or put into service within the Community before 6th November 1992.

(3) Save for regulations 2(2), 3(2) and 4 above and this paragraph, these Regulations do not apply to terminal equipment which is approved under an approval given before 6th November 1992 under section 22 or 84 of the 1984 Act in respect of terminal equipment which satisfies a specification which is a common type approval specification within the meaning of Article 2.14 of Council Directive 86/361/EEC (including a NET within the meaning of Article 2.15 thereof) where such approval is in force on the date on which the equipment is supplied or put into service, as the case may be (in these Regulations referred to as “exempt terminal equipment”).

(4) These Regulations do not apply to terminal equipment which the supplier believes (with reasonable cause) will not be put into service either in the United Kingdom or in another member State.

(1)

1984 c. 12.

(2)

1949 c. 54: there are amendments to this Act not relevant to these Regulations.

(3)

OJ No. L128, 23.5.91, p.1.

(4)

OJ No. L217, 5.8.86, p.21.

(5)

OJ No. L77, 26.3.73, p.29. The Low Voltage Directive was implemented by S.I. 1989/728.

(6)

OJ No. L109, 26.4.83, p.8, Council Directive 83/189/EEC was amended by Council Directive 88/182/EEC (OJ No. L81, 26.3.88, p.75).

(7)

To the extent that a common technical regulation imposes electromagnetic requirements specific to applicable terminal equipment, the Electromagnetic Compatibility Regulations 1992 (S.I. No. 2372), which implemented Council Directive 89/336/EEC as amended by Article 9.4 of the TTE Directive and Council Directive 92/31/EEC) do not apply to such equipment (regulation 27).