Join PCA to get your voice heard

I understand that some of your readers have expressed concern that "PCA is trying to shut down their businesses so that its members might thrive". Before I go on about them getting the entirely incorrect message, I'd like to make the point that in a democracy we get the politicians and the laws that we deserve.

Trade associations have existed for at least 400 years. Their raison d'etre is to protect and promote their members and their markets. Associations are usually born in response to threats; the PCA came into being for several reasons, the biggest threat at the time of our founding, and which accounts for many of our original members being direct sellers, was the damage inflicted on everyone when notable companies (Ti'ko, Multiplex) go bust.

Since then we have grown and our activities and areas of interest reflect the changes in our membership, which now includes component manufacturers, distributors, system integrators and direct sellers, dealer/retailers, publishers and finance companies. All have a common aim - to keep the whole personal computer industry as strong as possible for as long as possible.

The EMC Directive, which became the law of the land in the UK by means of a Statutory Instrument, went through the normal rounds of consultation.

This means that the DTI took into account the views of UK industry - via trade associations - for several years before accepting the final draft of the regulations. The crucial point to be made is that the UK computer trade was not interested enough to organise itself so that it could have input into this legislation. Thus the views of the defence electronics and office equipment industries, as voiced by the Federation of the Electronics Industry, were taken to be representative of the personal computer market as a whole - and there was no-one to disagree.

The PCA only came into existence after this legislation was adopted and as soon as we found out about it we protested loudly about its crazy inadequacies related to our market .

But at the end of the day the EMC regulations are now law. The problem is that while many companies, not just large ones and not just our members, have incurred costs by doing things within the law, many others have not bothered, and have gained a commercial advantage thereby. The PCA conference in September - which was open to anyone in the industry to have their say - voted unanimously to have this unfair advantage removed by having the regulations properly enforced. (The other option, to have the regulations somehow removed, doesn't stand a snowball's chance in hell of happening.)

For system builders and dealers to properly observe the EMC regulations need not involve a substantial outlay. It is not necessary to get every permutation of every system tested in an EMC lab, in fact it's not necessary to get anything tested at all. All this is explained in the PCA's EMC Guidance Notes which are free to members of the association.

However, I must point out that areas of CRN's coverage might have muddied the waters a little. We have called upon "national and local agencies to ensure that compliance with the EMC regulations is properly monitored." We did not say, as was reported "seek out and punish". The punishment for offenders is up to three months in prison and/or a u5,000 fine. It doesn't say anything about bankruptcy, as indicated.

At the end of the day we're all responsible for our own decisions, sometimes you've got to decide whether to uphold or break the law. But don't complain to the PCA about laws that you "accepted" - as far as the law makers are concerned you weren't interested enough to make your voice heard when you had the chance.

Anyone in the industry who wishes to have their voice heard, and to have advance warning of legislative and other issues, is welcome to join the association.

Keith Warburton, Executive Director

Personal Computer Association,

PO Box 48, Royston,

Herts SG8 6JS.