Clarifying Scope and Definitions of the Revised EMC Directive

The revision of the EMC Directive arose as a result of the EU Commission's program called SLIM (Simpler Legislation for the Internal Market) and of the Commission's efforts to improve legal security through a clearer and more precise text giving an answer to divergent interpretations of the actual EMC Directive 89/336/EEC. The efforts to clarify the EMC Directive were codified in an informal “Guide to the Application of the EMC Directive” released in 1997. The following year, 1998, a SLIM panel reviewed the EMC Directive and recommended its revision. The Commission published a proposal on revising the EMC Directive, which finally resulted in the new Directive 2004/108/EC. This paper will deal with the major changes brought by this revision.