Satellite earth station equipment: Council Common Position
The Council of the European Communities adopted on 22.7.1993 a Common Position on the Commission's proposal for a Council Directive in respect of satellite earth station equipment, supplementing Directive 91/263/EEC. The proposed Directive extends to satellite earth station equipment the principles defined in Directive 91/263/EEC, which introduced the full mutual recognition of type approval for telecommunications terminal equipment, and at the same time established the Approvals Committee for Terminal Equipment (ACTE) composed of representatives of the Member States and chaired by a representative of the Commission. The Common Position notes that the proposed Directive must be based on a general definition of the term "satellite earth station equipment" so as to allow for the technical development of products. Its scope excludes purpose-built equipment intended for use as part of the public terrestrial telecommunications network (inter alia, gateway satellite earth stations for major trunking applications and satellite tracking and control earth stations. Harmonizing conditions for the placing on the market of satellite earth station equipment will support an open and unified market and, further, will achieve an effective use of orbital resources and of the radio frequency spectrum, facilitating the avoidance of detrimental interference between space-based and terrestrial communications systems and other technical systems. An annex describes the procedure by which the manufacturer shall ensure and declare that the product concerned satisfies the requirements of the Directive.