Submerged by compliance testing

No interesting updates as we're totally swamped by regulatory duties, lab testing, have manufacturers, RF engineers, testing labs on the line; the complexity and burden imposed by governments on productive sectors of society is truly intolerable. Here we wish to recommend the book "Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand.

When this product comes out assuming we make it in one piece it will be a true miracle. Going through these formidable compliance obstacles without a market of 100,000 to 1,000,000 potential users is an existential risk. No one in their sane mind is ever going to attempt this again...

The law is so complex even testing labs can't agree with each other. No way to summarize here, just know the regulatory burden is 50 times more difficult to sort out than any of the electronics...

More soon when we can report with positive news. Unfortunately things are getting so complex and changing so quickly that even a daily blog cannot possibly document what we're going through. We're caught in an industrial size washing machine of regulatory mumbo jumbo, exceptions to the exceptions, class I and II changes, radiated and conducted emissions, anechoic chambers, Telecommunications Certified Bodies, Notified Bodies, in other words any and all of the bodies that don't really turn anyone on :)

Every time you call a test lab you learn there's a new piece of legislation which contradicts or supersedes what you knew previously. All countries are different. Except the EU which is standardized, except France for one thing and other places for others. This is insane.

Comments

By johnsteed at 2010-05-25 20:32:32 Reply

We feel your pain! (Wait, technically we won't until you ship...)



Yeah, international regulations around making and selling things are one level. An RF device adds a whole new layer.



Just be glad it's not a regulated (in some countries) medical device.

By akw123 at 2010-05-26 10:13:56 Reply

I don't think now is the time to actually realize the amount of certification required. This should have been a step in the project plan after prototype proved the concept with a go no-go decision. How many units can we actually sell?, how much will certification add to the cost to develop? How many certifications do we actually need and in what countries? Which countries can we sell in first? having some certification "under your belt" and actually selling in these countries may "grease" the certification in other countries.



And of course now you can BLAME the regulatory bodies for the failure of the product to make it to market instead of your failure to take into account the amount of work necessary in the certification step/