India To Adopt International Norms for Radiation Free Mobile Phone

Government of India’s Department of Telecom (DoT) all set to adopt the new policy and regulation on electromagnetic radiation emitted by Mobile Phones in India.

With the adoption of new norms, all the Importers and Local manufacturers of Mobile Phone in India would now be required to follow international norms pertaining to electromagnetic radiation emitted by mobile phones.

Mobile handsets manufactured and sold in India or Imported from any other countries should be checked for compliance of SAR limit and No handsets of SAR value above the prescribed standard adopted in India should be manufactured or sold in the country.The manufacturer’s mobile handset booklet should contain various Dos & Don’ts for safe use of cell phones.

Sachin Pilot, Minister of State for Communications & IT said that, “An Inter-Ministerial Committee was constituted by the Department of Telecommunications to examine adoption of safety limits for exposure to radio frequency energy produced by mobile handsets i.e. Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) levels of exposure from a mobile hand-set.

The report has indicated that most of the laboratory studies were unable to find a direct link between exposure to radio frequency radiation and health. The scientific studies as yet have not been able to confirm a cause-and-effect relationship between radio frequency radiation and health. The effect of emission from mobile phone is not known yet with certainty.

Highlights of New Policy for Radiation Free Mobile Phones :

(1) Telecom Commission has adopted International Commission on Non-ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) guidelines for mobile handsets imposing basic restrictions in terms of SAR (Specific Absorption Rate) value limiting to 2 W/Kg (averaged over 10g tissue) localized for head and trunk in the frequency range of 10 MHz to 10 GHz. Thereafter

i) Indigenous manufacturers of mobile handsets have been instructed to comply with ICNIRP guidelines and furnish self certificate.

ii) Mobile handsets manufacturers have also been instructed to indicate the level of radiation on the product itself and to clearly communicate the potential danger of mobile phone radiation and exposure.

(2) To regulate indigenous as well as imported mobile phones, Bureau of Indian Standard (BIS) has been requested to frame standards for mobile phones under BIS Act 1986.

Inter-Ministerial Committee constituted by the DoT in its report has made the following recommendations:

(i) Adoption of mobile sets having low SAR value of 1.6 W/Kg averaged over a 6 minutes period and taken over a volume containing a mass of 1 gram of human tissue;

(ii) Mobile handsets manufactured and sold in India or Imported from other countries should be checked for compliance of SAR limit and no handsets of SAR value above the prescribed standard adopted in India should be manufactured or sold in the country;

(iii) Display SAR value information in the handset;

(iv) Information of SAR values of different mobile phones made available on manufacturer’s website and Government website; and

(v) The manufacturer’s mobile handset booklet should contain various Dos & Don’ts for safe use of cell phones.

The report of the Inter-Ministerial Committee has been placed on the Department of Telecommunications’ website calling for feedback from stakeholders. Thereafter, it will be examined for appropriate action.