TESTUPS

EMC regulation in the European Union

The EMC Directive 2014/30/EU, the Radio Equipment Directive 2014/53/EU, harmonised standards, CE marking and the manufacturer's obligations.

In the EU, EMC is part of product law under the New Legislative Framework: the law sets essential requirements, harmonised standards give technical detail, and the manufacturer declares conformity and affixes the CE marking.

The two directives

  • EMC Directive 2014/30/EU applies to apparatus (finished products and components with intrinsic function) and to fixed installations. It has two essential requirements: equipment must not generate electromagnetic disturbance above a level that stops radio and telecommunications equipment or other equipment from working as intended, and it must have an adequate level of immunity to operate as intended in its environment. Fixed installations are not CE-marked; the rules for them concern good engineering practice and documentation.
  • Radio Equipment Directive (RED) 2014/53/EU applies to equipment that intentionally transmits or receives radio waves. Its EMC requirement is Article 3(1)(b); it also covers health and safety (3(1)(a)) and efficient use of the radio spectrum (3(2)). Radio equipment is not covered by the EMC Directive. Additional cybersecurity-related requirements for certain radio equipment have applied since 1 August 2025 under Delegated Regulation (EU) 2022/30.

The route to compliance (EMC Directive)

  1. Identify the applicable requirements and harmonised standards for the product.
  2. Assess conformity. The usual route is internal production control, in which the manufacturer carries out and documents the assessment. A route with a notified body is optional for the EMC Directive.
  3. Compile technical documentation (description of the product, the assessment, test reports, reference to standards) and keep it for ten years after the product is placed on the market.
  4. Draw up the EU declaration of conformity and affix the CE marking, together with type/batch/serial identification and the manufacturer’s name and address.
  5. Importers and distributors have their own duties to check the marking, the declaration and the documentation.

For the RED, the manufacturer follows a conformity-assessment procedure of the Directive; a notified body is needed in some cases, for example when harmonised standards are not applied in full.

Harmonised standards

The European standards organisations (CEN, CENELEC, ETSI) publish European Standards (EN), mostly identical to IEC, CISPR or ETSI documents. When a standard is cited in the Official Journal of the EU it is called a harmonised standard, and a product that meets it benefits from a presumption of conformity with the corresponding requirements. The standards used for EMC include EN 55032 and EN 55035 (multimedia), EN 55011 (ISM), EN 55014-1 and -2 (household appliances), EN 55015 (lighting), the EN 61000-6 series (generic) and, for radio equipment, the ETSI EN 301 489 series. The current list is maintained by the European Commission, which is where the standards cited for each directive can be checked.

Other EU rules that reach EMC

  • Road vehicles: EU type approval refers to UN Regulation No. 10 (see Automotive EMC).
  • Medical devices: Regulation (EU) 2017/745 contains general safety and performance requirements that include EMC; EN 60601-1-2 is commonly used (see Medical device EMC).
  • Railway: EN 50121 is the standard family for EMC of railway applications (see Railway EMC).

Where to check

The Commission’s pages on harmonised standards and the Blue Guide explain the system; the text of the Directives is on EUR-Lex.

Sources

Last reviewed: 2026-11-15. General information, not legal advice; check the official texts before relying on regulatory statements.

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