CE Marking

What Is CE Marking?

CE markingCE markingTesting & ComplianceEU conformity marking for NFC products (Radio Equipment Directive)Click to view → (Conformite Europeenne) is the mandatory conformity marking for products sold within the European Economic Area (EEA) that indicates compliance with applicable EU health, safety, and environmental protection legislation. For NFC devices operating at 13.56 MHz, CE marking requires compliance with the Radio Equipment Directive (RED) 2014/53/EU, which governs all radio-transmitting equipment sold in Europe.

Applicable EU Directives

NFC products may fall under several EU directives depending on their nature:

For most NFC products, RED compliance is the primary requirement. Passive NFC tags that contain no active radio transmitter may fall under the EMC directive instead of RED, since they only respond to an external RF field through load modulation.

Radio Equipment Directive (RED) Requirements

The RED establishes three essential requirements for NFC radio equipment:

Article 3.1(a) Health and Safety. The device must not pose health or safety risks under normal use. For NFC devices, this primarily concerns electrical safety and, for high-power readers, specific absorption rate (SAR) limits for human RF exposure.

Article 3.1(b) Electromagnetic Compatibility. The device must not cause harmful electromagnetic interference to other equipment and must be adequately immune to electromagnetic disturbance in its operating environment. This ensures NFC readers do not interfere with nearby electronics.

Article 3.2 Radio Spectrum. The device must use the radio spectrum efficiently to avoid harmful interference. For NFC operating at 13.56 MHz, this means compliance with the harmonized European standard ETSI EN 300 330, which specifies emission limits, frequency tolerance, and duty cycle restrictions for inductive communication systems.

Harmonized Standards

NFC device manufacturers demonstrate RED compliance by conforming to harmonized European standards:

Compliance with harmonized standards creates a presumption of conformity with the RED's essential requirements, simplifying the compliance process.

CE Marking vs FCC Compliance

For manufacturers targeting both US and EU markets, many test laboratories are accredited for both jurisdictions, allowing both compliance evaluations in a single test campaign to reduce time-to-market.