Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer; the information presented in this post is my personal interpretation and is by no means legal advice
According to the Shipping Announcement, phones from the batches Aspen, Birch, Chestnut and Dogwood will have a CE marking only for the radio, while those from Evergreen and Fir will have a CE marking that applies to the entire phone.
My understanding as a layperson is that there is a list of products for which a CE marking is required when they are brought into circulation in the EU. For mobile phones, it is not clear to me if a marking is only required for the radio or for the entire phone. The latter would imply that only phones from Evergreen and Fir could be legally brought into circulation in the EU.
It’s not clear to me either if all this is only relevant to Purism or if it is also relevant to the user. I also wonder if there similar issues with FCC markings for use in the US.
This all boils down to the following questions:
Can I legally use a phone from the batches Aspen, Birch, Chestnut and Dogwood in the EU?
Can I legally use a phone from the batches Aspen, Birch, Chestnut and Dogwood in the US?
I am sure this has been discussed at Purism. Maybe somebody from the team could shed some light on this.
As a consumer you can use whatever you bought legally. CE marking gives a right to a consumer, but not obligation. Obligation is on manufacturers and distributors.
As far as I know how much you say is absolutely true. But, from research done on the internet, it seems that if a package arrives from outside Europe to the national customs it can be stopped and, if there is no CE marking, it can be blocked. Perhaps it would be better if the parcels destined for Europe are all wrapped in a single address of a company that would then send them to the final destinations. This way, many possible problems could be avoided (as well as reducing shipping costs for Europe).
Regards
I just reviewed all my reference boards (uC, arm, fpga, etc.) and all of them have rohs and ce markings on them so i cannot confirm or disprove this assumption.
But, from research done on the internet, it seems that if a package arrives from outside Europe to the national customs it can be stopped and, if there is no CE marking, it can be blocked.
It would be interesting to see the sources that lead you to this conclusion. Was that an official document / website from the European Commission?
Maybe somebody from Purism that lives in Europe could give a statement. If I am not mistaken, this is the case for @nicole.faerber.
It is for this reason that I write above … Perhaps it would be better if the packages destined for Europe were all enclosed in a single address of a company that would then have sent them to the final destinations. In this way, many possible problems could be avoided (as well as reducing shipping costs for Europe). I want the phone
In my reading on this topic (unfortunately too scattered and unstructured for me to be able to reference my sources) I found that the concept of “placing on the market” seemed important, at least from a UK perspective. If goods are not technically being “placed on the market” within the EU, then it seems the goods might not require a CE mark. It’s not clear to me whether putting the phone into the hands of a consumer counts as “placing on the market”, or whether it would only be “on the market” if it were offered for sale by an entity located within the EU.
Simply importing or posessing a phone that’s not CE marked does not appear to be a problem, provided that you do not subsequently place it on the market.
(Of course, I could very well be totally wrong about this.)
I believe that in the announcement of the sending of the telephone, when it says “FCC and CE Radios” refers to the certification relating to the emission of electromagnetic waves which, from what I find on the internet, is the only certification required for the phones mobile phones.
regards
Here is an example for the Radio Equipment (RED) certification of the new Telit modems: https://www.telit.com/red/
I don’t know if such needs to be public but it is easily the very similar procedure necessary for the M.2 cellular modem card(s) from the Gemalto N.V. or from the Shanghai Broadmobi Communication Technology Co.,Ltd. Very same applies for the M.2 WiFi card, etc., and therefore sometimes nothing that applies directly to Purism as manufacturer.
@Quarnero The shipping announcement already states that there will be CE marking for the radio. The question was whether a CE marking for the phone as a whole is required…
CE markings can be applied by the Producing Company on their own.
With the CE Marking they claim to be compliant with all the Requirements for their Product within the European Union.
AFAIK the Customs Office of most European Countries tend to destroy or send back Products that are not Marked with the CE Markings on the device.
From my understanding it’s not enough to only have it for the radio devices since their placement within the Phone and the Phone Board itself could still create some unwanted EMI issues.
@randusr, yes, my guess would be that it needs to be the sum of all (above-mentioned) areas/components submitted to the Electrical and Electronic Engineering Industries (EEI) related to the phone as a whole from the batches of Chestnut, Dogwood and Evergreen. Here I am talking only about EU Member States usage of the Librem 5. If Aspen or Birch already posses all of the necessary CE markings I don’t know (and even don’t know who knows this) but I think that the cost for such would be somewhat unnecessary at this point of its development. And, I need to say sorry to all EU community members here but that’s just my current opinion (nothing to do with the official Purism approach) and as already said: just my guessing.
Essential PH-1 was from April 27, 2018 available for those living in Canada, China, Japan, France, Germany and United Kingdom through the Essential’s online shop and it was without any markings on top of the front or back case. I believe that the custom authorities are looking for the particular electronic device approval/conformance with the related EU regulations and not if they are stamped from inside/outside.
@Quarnero you’re absolutely right if the necessary Documentation is supplied with the Product then that also works.
There are no Markings on my Phone either. In most of those cases they are on the packaging of the device.
in the link I sent above it can be read that the CE is necessary, for mobile phones, only for electromagnetic emissions (to what I understand but I have no problem understanding that it may be different). in my phone, on the phone, there is the CE mark
The CE marking is needed if there is a directive applicable. Clearly the radio must have CE marking but I did not find other directives (not searching very well).
I found a directive about mobiles but it was a different kind of mobiles :-).
The Base Board of the Phone as well as the Display are also emitting in their case unwanted electromagnetic radiation that needs to be below certain limits.
From what I gathered during my last visit to the black magic chamber also known as EMI test Chamber.
At least in Germany the whole Product need to keep it’s emissions below a certain Level. Not only those modules with the wanted emission like the radios.
But maybe there are some ways to get around those with M2 Modules since they are removable.
is there any update for those of us who hoped to get shipment from Germany to the EU? If not could it happen that customs will destory / send back a pre-evergreen batch so that everyone from the EU should choose the Evergreen batch because of complete CE-certification?
