Effective as of 1st January 2011 - GASTEC at CRE Limited takeover Blackwood Labs
Blackwood Labs has been bought by GASTEC at CRE Limited of Cheltenham.

With the Blackwood emphasis very much on customer satisfaction with friendliness ensuring repeat business, there was a very neat fit into the Cheltenham company – itself already a Notified Body under the Gas Appliance, Construction Products and Boiler Efficiency Directives.

Business Area Manager for Product Testing, James Verlaque, said “over the years we have invested heavily in extending the scope of our accreditations, including electrical safety testing; our aim has always been to try to provide a one-stop solution for our clients, but EMC was always elusive to us. Then we discovered Blackwood and found them first class in every respect: technical knowledge, customer service, cost and quality were all ‘spot-on’. So in the words of a famous advertisement, ‘we liked it so much we bought the Company!’”.

It is very much business as usual at Blackwood as they settle into their new position within the GaC business. Paul Gwilliam, who has been involved in EMC testing at Blackwood since 1996, remains as Laboratory Manager and controls the day-to-day operations of all laboratories (EMC, Safety and EMF). Paul says “We are really excited about this latest development in the Blackwood story. We look forward to working within the GaC business and the opportunities presented by joining the Kiwa group.”

Paul is ably supported by Ginnie Baker the Quality Manager who has been involved in laboratory quality issues for both product compliance testing and test equipment calibration since 1998 and is responsible for ensuring that Blackwood Labs follow the requirements of ISO 17025:2005 – the international quality standard for test and calibration laboratories.

John Davies steps down as Managing Director having been involved in product compliance testing since 1990. John is an internationally recognised expert on EMC matters and remains actively involved with Blackwood on a consultancy basis.

The business will operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary of GaC, itself wholly owned by the Kiwa group of the Netherlands.

19th March 2010 - New EMC and LVD Official Journal published
The latest EMC OJ and LVD OJ.

22nd August 2009 - Was there an error in the EMC & R&TTE OJs?
On 21st August the European Commission announced an additional two years for the date of withdrawal of EN 55022:1998 + A1:2000 + A2:2003. The date in the Official Journal (C 126 of 5 June 2009) is stated as 1st October 2009.

The EC announcement (C197/3 of 21st August 2009) has extended the date of cessation of presumption of conformity with this emissions standard to 1st October 2011. There is no explanation provided for this, however, this is not the correction of an earlier error in the original OJ. It is understood that the PLT manufacturers have lobbied successfully for this delay because they appear to comply with the 1998 version, but fail the 2006 version.

There is no technical difference between the 1998 and 2006 standard with respect to PLT conducted emissions. This has since been confirmed by CISPR/I.

This amendment to the OJ can be found here:

August 2009 amendment to the EMCOJ

20th July 2009 - Now there truly is only one EMC Directive!
The transition period whereby 89/336/EC could still be used for product compliance is now up. As from today 2004/108/EC is the only EMC Directive that exists for compliance of new and existing products that fall within its scope and placed on the market.

If you have any concerns about the 2004/108/EC then call us on 01495 229219.

New EMC and LVD Official Journal published 5th June 2009
The latest EMC OJ and LVD OJ

Blackwood Labs host the ECANB and the R&TTE CA meetings

The European Commission Association of Notified Bodies (ECANB for the EMC Directive, 2004/108/EC) and the Radio & Telcommunications Terminal Equipment Compliance Association (R&TTE CA regarding Directive 1999/5/EC) meetings were held at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff on 23rd and 24th April 2009.

August 2008 - BERR publish guide on EMC regulations

BERR (formerly the DTi) have published their guide to the UKs EMC regulations, SI 2006 No. 3418. BERR stated "We have published some interim guidance on specific issues of interpretation in the EMC Regulations 2006 to assist manufacturers and suppliers of electronic and electrical equipment to understand the effect of the Regulations."

BERR Guide to the EMC Regulations

Additions include the latest Ammendment 2 to EN 60335-1:2002 and gives a DOCOPOCOSS* of July 2009. Therefore products which conform only to the previous version of the standard (EN 60335:2002 +A1 +A11 +A12) should not be placed on the EU market after this date.

*Date Of Cessation Of Presumption Of Conformity Of the Superseded Standard