The Radio Equipment Regulations 2017

Interpretation and application

2.—(1) In these Regulations—

“the 1987 Act” means the Consumer Protection Act 1987(1);

“accreditation” has the meaning set out in point 10 of Article 2 of RAMS (as amended from time to time);

“accreditation certificate” means a certificate, issued by either the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (a company limited by guarantee incorporated in England and Wales under number 03076190) or by a national accreditation body in another Member State, attesting that a conformity assessment body meets the notified body requirements;

“authorised representative” means a person appointed in accordance with regulation 19;

“CE marking” means a marking which takes the form set out in Annex II of RAMS (as amended from time to time);

“competent national authority” means an authority having responsibility for enforcing the law of a Member State which implements the Directive;

“conformity assessment” means the process demonstrating whether the essential requirements relating to radio equipment have been fulfilled;

“conformity assessment body” means a body that performs conformity assessment activities;

“distributor” means any person in the supply chain, other than the manufacturer, authorised representative or the importer, who makes radio equipment available on the market;

“the Directive” means Directive 2014/53/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council on the harmonisation of the laws of the Member States relating to the making available on the market of radio equipment(2);

“economic operator” means a manufacturer, authorised representative, importer or distributor;

“electromagnetic disturbance” has the meaning set out in point (5) of paragraph 1 of Article 3 of Directive 2014/30/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council on the harmonisation of the laws of the Member States relating to electromagnetic compatibility(3);

“enforcing authority” means any person enforcing these Regulations under regulation 56 (enforcement);

“essential requirements” means the requirements set out in regulation 6;

“EU declaration of conformity” means a declaration of conformity required to be drawn up in accordance with regulation 42 by regulation 10(1)(a) (EU declaration of conformity);

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

“harmful interference” has the meaning set out in point (r) of Article 2 of Directive 2002/21/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on a common regulatory framework for electronic communications networks and services(4) (as amended from time to time);

“harmonised standard” has the meaning set out in Article 2(1)(c) of Regulation (EU) No 1025/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council on European standardisation(5) (as amended from time to time);

“importer” means any person who—

“make available on the market” means any supply for distribution, consumption or use of radio equipment on the EU market in the course of a commercial activity, whether in return for payment or free of charge, and related expressions must be construed accordingly;

“manufacturer” means a person who—

“market surveillance authority” has the meaning set out in regulation 55 (designation of market surveillance authorities”);

“national accreditation body” has the meaning set out in point 11 of Article 2 of RAMS (as amended from time to time);

“notified body requirements” means the requirements set out in Schedule 8 (notified body requirements);

“OFCOM” means the Office of Communications established under the Office of Communications Act 2002(6);

“Official Journal” means the Official Journal of the European Union;

“place on the market” means the first making available on the EU market of radio equipment, and related expressions must be construed accordingly;

“put into service” means the first use of radio equipment in the EU by its end-user for the purposes for which it was intended, and related expressions must be construed accordingly;

“radiodetermination” means the determination of the position, velocity and/or other characteristics of an object, or the obtaining of information relating to those parameters, by means of the propagation properties of radio waves;

“radio communication” means communication by means of radio waves;

“radio equipment” means—

“radio waves” means electromagnetic waves of frequencies lower than 3,000 GHz, propagated in space without artificial guide;

“RAMS” means Regulation (EC) No 765/2008(7) of the European Parliament and of the Council setting out the requirements for accreditation and market surveillance relating to the marketing of products;

“recall” means taking any measure aimed at achieving the return of radio equipment that has already been made available to the end-user and related expressions must be construed accordingly;

“relevant conformity assessment procedure” means a conformity assessment procedure referred to in regulation 41 (conformity assessment procedures);

“relevant economic operator” means, in relation to radio equipment, an economic operator with obligations in respect of that radio equipment under Part 2;

“technical documentation” has the meaning set out in regulation 45 (technical documentation);

“technical specification” means a document that prescribes technical requirements to be fulfilled by radio equipment;

“weights and measures authority” means a local weights and measures authority within the meaning set out in section 69 of the Weights and Measures Act 1985(8);

“withdraw” means taking any measure aimed at preventing radio equipment in the supply chain from being made available on the market and related expressions must be construed accordingly.

(2) In these Regulations, a reference to radio equipment being “in conformity with Part 2” means that—

(a)the radio equipment is in conformity with the essential requirements, and

(b)each relevant economic operator has complied with the obligations imposed on them under Part 2 which must be satisfied at or before the time at which they make the radio equipment available on the market.

(3) In these Regulations (except in Part 4 (notification of conformity assessment bodies) and Schedules 8 (notified body requirements) and 9 (operational obligations of notified bodies)), “notified body” means—

(a)a notified body within the meaning set out in regulation 46 (notified bodies), or

(b)a notified body under the laws of any other Member State which implements the Directive.

(4) In regulations 18 and 26 (monitoring in relation to manufacturers and importers respectively) “risk” means a risk which could arise from lawful and readily predictable human behaviour.

(5) In the other provisions of these Regulations, “risk” means a risk—

(a)which could arise from lawful and readily predictable human behaviour, or

(b)of non-conformity with the essential requirements.

(6) In these Regulations, a reference to a Member State must be read as a reference to an EEA State and a reference to the EU must be read as a reference to the European Economic Area.