EdLaw int/eu/product-safety/red/README.md

language: en · status: in-force · last checked: 2026-09-06

Radio Equipment Directive (Directive 2014/53/EU)

The CE-marking directive for anything that intentionally emits or receives radio waves — every WiFi/Bluetooth product — published in the Official Journal on 22 May 2014 (OJ L 153, 22.5.2014, p. 62), in force since 11 June 2014, with national measures applying from 13 June 2016 (Art. 49, not extracted; see Sources). "Radio equipment" is "an electrical or electronic product, which intentionally emits and/or receives radio waves for the purpose of radio communication and/or radiodetermination" (Art. 2(1)(1)). This folder reproduces the consolidated text 02014L0053-20260530, which includes the amendments that matter most now: Directive (EU) 2022/2380 (common charging / USB-C, inserting Art. 3(4), Art. 3a and Annex Ia) and Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/1717.

For a radio product the RED is the lead CE directive: Art. 3(1)(a) absorbs the Low Voltage Directive's safety objectives "with no voltage limit applying", and Art. 3(1)(b) absorbs EMC — the EMC Directive excludes such equipment from its own scope.

Applicability to EdTech

Contents

Document Covers
SCOPE-AND-DEFINITIONS.md Arts. 1–2 — scope and definitions
ESSENTIAL-REQUIREMENTS.md Arts. 3, 3a, 16; Annex Ia — essential requirements, common charging, presumption of conformity
OPERATOR-OBLIGATIONS.md Arts. 10, 12, 13 — manufacturer/importer/distributor obligations
CONFORMITY-AND-CE-MARKING.md Arts. 17–20; Annexes II, VII — conformity routes, EU declaration, CE marking
ENFORCEMENT-AND-APPLICATION.md Arts. 43, 46, 48 — formal non-compliance, penalties, transition

Scope note: notified-body machinery (Arts. 22–38), market surveillance procedures (Arts. 39–42), the emergency-framework articles (43a–43e) and Annexes III–VI can be added with the same tooling when needed.

Key obligations at a glance

Enforcement

National market surveillance; formal non-compliance grounds in Art. 43; national penalties, "effective, proportionate and dissuasive", may include criminal sanctions for serious infringements (Art. 46).

Licence

The corpus reproduces the EUR-Lex consolidated text of Directive 2014/53/EU (CELEX 02014L0053-20260530); the related delegated and amending acts are cited from EUR-Lex.

The EUR-Lex legal notice (eur-lex.europa.eu/content/legal-notice/legal-notice.html, read 2026-10-01 in the Internet Archive copy captured that day, because EUR-Lex refuses non-browser clients) says: "© European Union, 1998-2026 The Commission’s document reuse policy is based on Decision 2011/833/EU. Unless otherwise specified, you can re-use the legal documents published in EUR-Lex for commercial or non-commercial purposes." For consolidated texts it adds: "The copyright for the editorial content of this website, the summaries of EU legislation and the consolidated texts, which is owned by the EU, is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence. This means that you can re-use the content provided you acknowledge the source and indicate any changes you have made."

Commission Decision 2011/833/EU on the reuse of Commission documents (OJ L 330, 14.12.2011, p. 39, read in the Publications Office Cellar copy on 2026-10-01) provides in Article 4 that "All documents shall be available for reuse: (a) for commercial or non-commercial purposes under the conditions laid down in Article 6", and Article 6(2) lists the conditions that may be attached: "(a) the obligation for the reuser to acknowledge the source of the documents; (b) the obligation not to distort the original meaning or message of the documents; (c) the non-liability of the Commission for any consequence stemming from the reuse."

Conditions, and how this corpus meets them:

Sources