Incorporating a new ARPANSA protection standard into regulatory arrangements - consultation 28/2021

The ACMA has made:

• the Radiocommunications Equipment (General) Amendment Rules 2021 (No.1)
• the Radiocommunications (Electromagnetic Energy) Amendment Instrument 2021 (No.1).

These instruments incorporate references to the new Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety (ARPANSA) Standard – Radiation Protection Standard for Limiting Exposure to Radiofrequency Fields – 100 kHz to 300 GHz (2021) – in our electromagnetic energy (EME) regulatory arrangements.

This means the supply of certain radiocommunications equipment and operation of radiocommunications transmitters must comply with the EME exposure levels in the new ARPANSA Standard.

The instruments amended are:

• the Radiocommunications Equipment (General) Rules 2021 (the General Equipment Rules) under the Radiocommunications Act 1992
• the Radiocommunications Licence Conditions (Apparatus Licence) Determination 2015 (the Apparatus LCD)
• the Radiocommunications (Body Scanning – Aviation Security) Class Licence 2018.

As part of these changes, we repealed the Radiocommunications (Compliance Labelling – Electromagnetic Radiation) Notice 2014 and the Radiocommunications (Electromagnetic Radiation – Human Exposure) Standard 2014. Our EME equipment supply regulation is now set out in the General Equipment Rules.

We received 8 submissions to the consultation. They are available for viewing below. All submissions supported the incorporation of the new ARPANSA Standard into our regulatory instruments. Some submissions offered suggestions for amendments.

In addition to making the proposed changes, we made some minor amendments to the instruments after consultation. These are shown below.

Changes made to the Apparatus LCD after consultation

Amendments to section 4 – definitions

• We included new definitions of ‘supervised visitor’, ‘controlled area worker’ and ‘aware user’, to whom occupational exposure limits apply. We also amended the definition of members of the general public to exclude groups to whom occupational limits apply.

This amends the Apparatus LCD to distinguish between the people to whom the general public and occupational exposure limits apply consistent with the new ARPANSA Standard.

Amendments to section 8

• For transmitters operating on frequencies above 2GHz, only the ‘incident power density’ needs to be measured or calculated to show compliance with the new ARPANSA Standard.
• We included updated definitions of electric and magnetic field and power density, as per the new ARPANSA Standard.

These changes align the Apparatus LCD with the new ARPANSA Standard. This states that electric and magnetic field strength measurements above 2GHz are not applicable and do not need to be considered when determining compliance.

Amendment to section 10

• We set out the relevant domestic and international standards that may be used to measure or calculate radiofrequency fields. This determines compliance with the new ARPANSA Standard.

Change made to the General Equipment Rules after consultation

Standard EN 62209-2 being used to test near the human head

• We confirmed that the standard is intended to – and can be – used near the human head to determine EME compliance. We amended the General Equipment Rules in line with this.

The change will give clarity to compliance testing methodology.

Find out more about the General Equipment Rules.

We want to amend ACMA legislative instruments to reference a new radiation protection standard published by ARPANSA.

ARPANSA published a new standard in February 2021. This is cited as the ‘Radiation Protection Standard for Limiting Exposure to Radiofrequency Fields – 100 kHz to 300 GHz (2021)’. In this consultation it is also referred to as the new ARPANSA Standard.

We propose to incorporate the new ARPANSA Standard into the equipment supply arrangements by amending the Radiocommunications Equipment (General) Rules 2021 (the General Equipment Rules).

We also propose to amend the Radiocommunications Licence Conditions (Apparatus Licence) Determination 2015 (the Apparatus LCD) and the Radiocommunications (Body Scanning – Aviation Security) Class Licence 2018 (the Body Scanners Class Licence) to incorporate references to the new ARPANSA Standard.

The proposed amendments to our legislative instruments are to:

• Incorporate references to the new ARPANSA Standard in the General Equipment Rules, the Apparatus LCD and the Body Scanners Class Licence.
• Update or add references to international standards.
• Consolidate the existing EME-related standard and labelling notice into the General Equipment Rules.