oh and warning, if this is how you plan to do designs don't even think of anything that has to pass EMC testing or your products will all be 90% hacked on bits after to fix the mess you made in the first place to get it past regulatory testing! I take it you have thought about that bit too as you plan to sell it?
However surprising as that may be, I did. I looked into the regulations I had to comply with for the EU market, and as far as I understand, that would be CE and its EMC and RoHS components; and I saw that the CE specifications were... non quantitative. Which on one side I find baffling, and the other, not surprising.
I read the 2014/30/EU directive, and took away that I had to respect the following, write a document and add CE/RoHS on my devices:
1. General requirements
Equipment shall be so designed and manufactured, having regard to the state of the art, as to ensure that:
(a) the electromagnetic disturbance generated does not exceed the level above which radio and telecommunications equipment or other equipment cannot operate as intended;
(b) it has a level of immunity to the electromagnetic disturbance to be expected in its intended use which allows it to operate without unacceptable degradation of its intended use.
2. Specific requirements for fixed installations
A fixed installation shall be installed applying good engineering practices and respecting the information on the intended use of its components, with a view to meeting the essential requirements set out in point 1.
That's it. No seriously that's it.
What to take away from this ? What level qualifies as the one above which radio and telecommunications equipment
or other equipment cannot operate as intended ? What electromagnetic disturbance can I expect in the context of its intended use (some guy's bedroom) ? How am I qualified to judge that with a background in mathematics and software engineering ?
From there I see two paths:
- Buy a 100$ EMC tester, test and go "well clearly the level are so low it's not a problem, also it still works when I run it next to my microwave and my CRT, must be good lmao. Also all my components are RoHS, Farnell and JLC said so"
- Respect a harmonized standard. Having looked at previous versions (the 2015 iirc) it's utterly impossible to verify them without highly specialized equipment and asking a lab to test for you costs an arm - by an arm I mean a significant % of the projected gross sales for the lifetime of the device. Oh yeah and, if I understood this correctly, YOU HAVE TO BUY THE LATEST HARMONIZED STANDARD TO EVEN KNOW WHAT YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO COMPLY WITH.
So, yeah. I'm going with the first option so far. I am in good faith doing all I reasonably can to ensure this device is compliant, and the (self-certified) directive - I was previously mentionning I wasn't that surprised - seems to be written to... allow people to do this. I guess the fact you buy what you have to comply with really highlights the fact major companies and individuals aren't held to the same standards.
For comparison, my peers don't even bother with compliance and have been selling to the EU without it (one has self certified the NA equivalent)
As far as I understand, the CE compliance is an obligation of results - also you have to write something to demonstrate you tried. You don't get fined until there's a problem and it's shown your device was not, in fact, CE, and you claimed it was. If you know your device is so basic EMC worries are out of the question (because it's litterally a mcu, a flash, a crystal, basic components and contacts), then you hardly care.
If anyone wants to pitch in on that - though it's not the initial subject - I would welcome it. I've been extremely confused learning about compliance, and I'm trying my best to play by the rules as much as a one man operation allows.