Canada EMC requirements

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Regulatory Framework Products Covered Requirements Test Reports Markings

Regulatory Framework

EMC requirements in Canada are regulated by the Radiocommunication Regulations (1996).

Products Covered

The following list gives the Interference-Causing Equipment Standards (ICES's) and the product groups they cover:

ICES-001: Industrial, Scientific and Medical Radio Frequency Generators

ICES-002 : Spark Ignition Systems of Vehicles and Other Devices Equipped with Internal Combustion Engines

ICES-003: Digital Apparatus

ICES-004 : Alternating Current High Voltage Power Systems

ICES-005: Radio Frequency Lighting Devices

Digital Apparatus (ICES-003) includes digital equipment with a clock rate of 10 kHz or greater. There are certain devices which are exempted, including:

Electronic controls used by a public utility or industrial plant

Test equipment in an industrial, medical or commercial environment (may be covered by ICES-001)

Medical computing device, under the direction of a qualified health care practitioner (may be covered by ICES-001)

Central office telephone equipment, operated by a telecommunications common carrier in a central office

Equipment having a power consumption of less than 6 nW during operation

A full list of exemptions appears in ICES-003.

Digital apparatus is classified as Class A is it is unlikely to be used in a residential environment. Other equipment is classified as Class B.

Requirements

These notes refer to the requirements for ICES-001 and ICES-003. Details of other standards are available via the links above.

For ISM equipment (ICES-001), CAN/CSA C108.6-M91 (CISPR 11) is to be used.

For Digital Apparatus (ICES-003), either CSA C108.8-M1983 or CAN/CSA-CISPR22-96 is to be used.

Test Reports

The Canadian Standards are very similar to or identical the equivalent FCC (USA) or international requirements. It may not be necessary for your product to be retested to the Canadian requirements. In this case a note should be added to the FCC or international test report, stating that the results are deemed satisfactory evidence of compliance with Industry Canada Interference-Causing Equipment Standard ICES-003 (or ICES-001).

The test report must be kept by the manufacturer for at least five years.

Markings

For ICES-001 (ISM equipment), the product must be labeled with a notice indicating compliance, e.g.

"This ISM device complies with Canadian ICES-001."

For ICES-003 (digital apparatus), the product must be labeled with a notice indicating compliance, e.g.

"This Class[*] digital apparatus complies with Canadian ICES-003."

[*] should be A or B as appropriate.

If it is not feasible to fix a label to the product, the notice may be included in the user manual.

The label or notice may be in English, French or both, based on the intended market, company marketing policies, and any other applicable provincial or federal regulations.