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Applying the 'relevant EMCD harmonised standards' is no longer enough! You probably need to apply IEC 61000-4-13 too.

Applying the 'relevant EMCD harmonised standards' is no longer enough! You probably need to apply IEC 61000-4-13 too. image #1

23 Jun 2025

Keith Armstrong, www.cherryclough.com, 11 April 2025

If you are still declaring EMC compliance by choosing the most relevant test standards listed under the EMC Directive in the Official Journal of the EU (OJEU) – then passing those tests and listing them on your Declarations of EMC Conformity – you are 5 years out of date and your products might suffer costly delays in EU and UK customs.

Instead, since the EMC  Directive 2014/30/EU (and the UK EMC Regulations) came into force 2016, we have been required to perform, and document, an “adequate analysis and assessment of the risks” of our products complying with the Directive’s Essential Requirements.

The purpose of these ‘risk assessments’ is to specify the EMC standards, specifications, guidelines, etc., – or parts of them – to apply to our products, to help ensure their EMC compliance. 

Find out more about this (free) at: https://www.emcstandards.co.uk/the-new-eu-directives-which-came-into-force-in, or its (paid for) update https://www.emcstandards.co.uk/recent-emc-directives-2016.

An important issue is that we are almost certain to find ourselves having to apply test standards that we are not familiar with, and are often not listed in the OJEU.

This is especially true for frequencies below 150kHz, which has historically been neglected by EMC test standards because it is below any European broadcasting frequencies.

However, a great many activities have recently started to develop that can mean products causing/suffering EMI at frequencies below 150kHz – and of course the EMC Directive covers frequencies from “DC to Daylight” so this is a growing risk.

One of the standards that has been developed to help deal with EMI < 150kHz is IEC 61000-4-13, an immunity test standard that addresses the increasing distortion of AC mains supply waveforms.

I wrote a guidebook on this standard a few years ago, which you can read/download (free) at: https://www.emcstandards.co.uk/a-practical-guide-for-en-61000-4-13-mains-harm.

IEC 61000-4-13 has been updated since I wrote it, but I expect the basics described in my guide to still be relevant and helpful.   

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