TRaC Helps To Set the Standards
15 August 2008
Steve Hayes, director of TRaC-TRL’s EMC division, has recently finished writing Annex F for Def-Stan 5-411, Part 1 and is currently working on another annex for Def-Stan 61-5, Part 6. He says that there is a widely held misconception that military equipment doesn’t need to be CE marked. In fact, a case in Spain in 2003 found that defence procurement was not exempt. "Exemptions have to be agreed on a case by case basis," he says "and are only rarely granted if it can be proved that the process of compliance would jeopardise national security." The UK rules have recently been re-issued to take this into account.
TRaC-TRL is well placed to help manufacturers ensure that their products comply and meet the standards for military as well as commercial sale. "We understand the relationship between the two and can put a programme together which covers compliance for both standards, saving manufacturers valuable time and money," says Steve. "Many companies have most of the evidence already, it's just a matter of helping them to present it and fill in the gaps – complying is not as hard as people seem to fear."
TRaC-TRL has a large testing chamber at its Malvern facility capable of accommodating a whole battle tank, which also helps to streamline the compliance process.
Def-Stan 61-5, Part 6, covers e-marking and vehicles and is expected to be published this summer. To find out more, visit the TRaC-TRL stand SP 51-52 at the DVD Show.
