Yes, Electronics Products Face Serious Legal Regulation

This is a very common question in consultations, and there really doesn’t seem to be much good material out there that systematically explains the overall picture of legal regulation.

The reason, I think, is that regulations differ by country and keep changing constantly.

Because of this, large companies typically have a dedicated department that investigates standards and keeps an antenna up for developments in each country.

Small companies more often turn to an outside consultant for an opinion when the need arises.

Rather than aiming for strict precision, I want to explain things here in a way that captures the overall picture as much as possible.

For the latest information and details, base your judgments on up-to-date information from the appropriate authorities.

Something very useful for understanding the regulations involved in selling electronic devices is “what’s actually being sold in the market.”

Once a product clears a regulation, a mark is usually attached, and that mark gives you a way into the overall picture of the regulation.

Look at an AC adapter, for example, and you’ll probably see things like “PSE,” “VI,” and “RoHS” printed on it.

These indicate, respectively, that the product clears standards for “safety,” “energy efficiency,” and “restricted substances.”

The content of the regulations differs between products that plug into a primary power source (the outlet coming out of the wall) and those that run on a secondary power source (such as USB bus power or a battery).

Safety test standards also differ by country, so some devices carry other marks such as “UL” or “CCC.”

Now look at the product itself—a laptop, say—and you’ll notice a huge number of marks and certification numbers printed on the bottom or back.

That’s because laptops are, in most cases, sold globally, and lining up all the appropriate marks adds up to quite a lot.

I’ll avoid listing everything here, but broadly speaking, these marks fall into two categories of regulation.

One is “electromagnetic compatibility,” also called EMC.

“Compatibility” here means the device must satisfy both sides: it must not emit illegal radio waves, and it must not malfunction when it receives radio waves flying around in its environment.

The FCC mark and CE mark that you often see, as well as what’s commonly called the Japanese radio type approval mark (giteki), fall into this category.

Some countries impose comprehensive, high requirements regarding electromagnetic compatibility, while others require only part of it to be satisfied.

Regulations differ subtly from country to country, but each is built as that country’s own standard after interpreting the underlying IEC standard.

(Sometimes it’s basically a straight copy.)

The other category is recycling-related requirements.

These vary in detail depending on the materials used and whether a battery is present, but proper guidelines are provided, so this shouldn’t become much of a problem as long as you look into it properly.

When I get asked about legal regulation, I think what most people are concerned about is safety and EMC.

Regarding safety, most recent products run on a secondary power source, so in most cases all you can do is require the manufacturer of the AC adapter or power unit to pass the relevant standard.

As a countermeasure, I think it’s important to always have multiple candidate components in mind during the early stages of product development.

On the other hand, what you need to watch out for with EMC is emissions (the outgoing side).

Emissions include both intentional radiation and unintentional radiation. The former only concerns communication devices that use radio waves, but the latter concerns every kind of device.

When an electronic circuit operates, current flows.

Unintentional radiation is the noise generated at that time that doesn’t stay contained within the PCB or the enclosure but leaks out to the outside.

This occurs in most devices—unintentionally, precisely as the name suggests.

Intentional radiation is output at the intended power and in the intended way, so even when it fails to pass, countermeasures are relatively easy.

But with unintentional radiation, since there was never any intention to emit it in the first place, people often struggle to find a countermeasure once it fails to pass.

There’s no single “do this one thing and you’ll definitely be fine” solution, but one thing I’d recommend is taking a measurement as early as possible.

In most cases, the degree of unintentional radiation is largely determined once you’ve fixed the main IC and its operating speed, the internal communication speed and frequency, and the rough mechanical layout including wiring.

Of course, passing the standard isn’t decided by measurement results from a prototype, but once the configuration is mostly finalized and the power turns on, taking a measurement at that point lets you gauge how much risk you’re carrying.

The content of this post is an excerpt (original text) from the following book. If you’re interested, please consider purchasing the book.

The Shape of a Happy IoT Startup

The Shape of a Happy IoT Startup

Originally published in Japanese at https://clazytech.com/2022/08/1122/. Translated with LLM assistance and reviewed before publication.