IEEE Consumer Electronics Magazine - October 2015 - 125

IP Corner

The CE Marking as a Passport
to the European Market
By Susanne Wende

hen placing a product on the
European market, the producer has to keep many legal
aspects in mind. For example,
there are specific product requirements
under European law. Decisions need to
be made if and where to protect intellectual property rights. In this column, an
overview on the CE marking (for product
certification) as a passport for consumer
electronics placed on the European market will be provided.

MEANING OF THE CE MARKING
"CE" is the abbreviation of French
phrase "Conformité Européene," which
means "European Conformity." It is
also called a "product's passport" for
the markets within the European Economic Area (European Union Member
States plus Liechtenstein, Iceland, and
Norway). This is due to the fact that a
CE-marked product benefits from the
free movement of goods in the European Union. According to the European
CE Directives, a market surveillance
authority must assume that a product
bearing the correct CE marking complies with the requirements of the specific directive.
The most relevant CE directives for
consumer electronics are the Low Voltage Directive 2006/95/EC, the Directive
on Electromagnetic Compatibility
2004/108/EC (EMC), the Ecodesign
Directive 2008/125/EC, and the

Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MCE.2015.2463412
Date of publication: 29 October 2015

Labeling Directive 2010/30/EU. The
conformity assessment is quite complicated specifically in regard to ecodesign
and labeling requirements, as it legally
works together with product-specific
implementing measures adopted by the
European Commission. For smart consumer electronics, the R&TTE Directive
1999/5/EC might also be applicable.
Smart products and new technologies,
for example the smart watch, might
cause consumer electronics to enter into
another product category with even
higher regulatory requirements such as
medical products.
The CE marking (Figure 1) is a declaration of the manufacturer that its product complies with the requirements of
the applicable European CE Directives.
The CE marking has to correspond with
the EU Declaration of Conformity,
which the producer issues after it carried
out the obligatory conformity assessment
procedure. The CE marking is not, therefore, an independent quality approval.
The producer can, however, outsource
the conformity assessment procedure.
Nevertheless, the producer remains
responsible for finding the right CE
Directive(s), for carrying out the conformity assessment procedure, the EU Declaration of conformity, and the CE marking.
An example: a television-as electrical equipment-falls under the EU Low
Voltage Directive 2006/95/EC. According to Art. 8 EU Low Voltage Directive,
the producer must, therefore, make sure
that the conformity assessment procedure under the EU Low Voltage Directive is carried out. It also must issue the

EU Declaration of conformity and affix
the CE marking before the product is
placed on the EU market. Additionally,
the TV would fall in the scope of the
European Directive on Electromagnetic
Compatibility and needs to fulfill those
requirements. A TV also needs labeling
on eco-efficiency, according to Directive
2010/30/EU together with Delegated
Regulation (EU) No. 1062/2010. If the
TV communicates with other appliances-such as a computer-via radio, the
R&TTE Directive might also be applicable. By placing the CE marking onto the
appliance, the manufacturer declares
that its product complies with all of
these and potentially further applicable
CE Directives.
By the way, some consumer electronics, specifically video and audio
appliances, would generally also fall
under the EU Machinery Directive
2006/42/EC. "Audio and video appliances" are, however, explicitly excluded if they are covered by the EU Low
Voltage Directive. This shows that, in
some cases, merely identifying the
applicable CE Directive might be a little complicated.

THE CE MARKING
As 2016 is right around the corner, it
should be noted that according to the so
called "alignment package" of the
European Union, many CE Directives
are revised, for example, the Low Voltage Directive and the R&TTE Directive
(RED). The deadline for EU member
states to implement these provisions
into national law ends in April 2016.

october 2015

IEEE ConsumEr ElECtronICs magazInE

125

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Consumer Electronics Magazine - October 2015