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ICTA Applies Precautionary Approach and Deploys Mandatory Standard on Radio Frequency Safety

Port Louis: The ICT Authority officially deployed its Radiocommunication Infrastructure Technical and Administrative Standard for Electromagnetic Field (EMF) Safety (hereafter referred to as the Standard) on 23rd March 2011 following an in-depth public consultation on Radio Frequency safety with its stakeholders in Mauritius. The standard has been coded as ICTA/STD/2011/01 and can be viewed in full on http://www.icta.mu/mediaoffice/consultations.htm.

Fifteen submissions have been received following the public consultation. They include recommendations, views and comments from the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology and those of the Ministry of Housing and Lands; those of operators as well as those of municipalities and district councils. The responses can be viewed on the ICTA’s website
http://www.icta.mu/mediaoffice/consultations.htm.

The Standard makes it imperative for operators to adopt forward planning for the installation of RF infrastructure to cater for the expected rise in the number of antennas due to the foreseeable growth in demand for mobile telephony services and good network coverage in Mauritius.

Telecommunication operators will subsequently have to submit the findings of their respective consultations as part of their application to obtain authorization to set up radio communications infrastructure. This is why the Standard includes a consultation plan that spells out in detail how operators are to consult with stakeholders, in particular, on the impact that setting up infrastructure such as a radio base station may have on communities. The Standard is mandatory and will be the code to be adopted by all licensees holding a valid licence to operate or subcontract fixed radio communications infrastructure.

In finalizing the Standard, the ICT Authority based its approach on the Precautionary Principle. The Precautionary Principle is summed up in 1992 at the UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro. The Precautionary Principle was recognised and included in the Rio Declaration.

“In order to protect the environment, the precautionary approach should be widely applied by States according to their capabilities. Where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage, lack of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing cost-effective measures to prevent environmental degradation.”

In Mauritius the need for finalizing a mandatory Standard for Radio Frequency has been strongly felt because of growing public concern over the potential hazards to health from RF emissions from radio communications infrastructure.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) “extensive research has been conducted into possible health effects of exposure to many parts of the frequency spectrum. All reviews conducted so far have indicated that exposures below the limits recommended in the (International Commission on Non-Ionising radiation Protection) ICNIRP (1998) EMF guidelines, covering the full frequency range from 0-300 GHz, do not produce any known adverse health effect. However, there are gaps in knowledge still needing to be filled before better health risk assessments can be made. (http://www.who.int/peh-emf/research/en/).

ICTA/STD/2011/01 addresses a set of objectives in line with best contemporary practice for the design, installation and operation of radio communications infrastructure:

to ensure that relevant stakeholders are informed and consulted before radio communications infrastructure is erected
to specify standards for consultation, information availability and presentation
to consider the impact on the well being of the community, physical or otherwise, of radio communications infrastructure and
to ensure the views of local authorities and the community are taken into consideration, if the need arises, into the telecommunications infrastructure site selection

The ICT Authority launched the first phase of consultation on the Standard on 3 September 2009. Part of the process included a workshop to key stakeholders on the technical concepts behind RF Safety. The Authority also explained the current regulatory framework governing RF Safety in Mauritius. Among the stakeholders were representatives from telecommunication operators, officials from local authorities, government departments, consumer organizations and researchers from academia. An online forum was set up in 2009 to gather views on
RF safety from stakeholders so that a consensus could be reached on the complex issue of RF safety.

The exposure limits adopted by the ICT Authority are those of the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation (ICNIRP); those RF exposure limits are those adopted by the World Health Organization.

The Deployment of the Standard by the ICT Authority are line with provisions under section 18 (1) (n) of the ICT Act 2001 “ to ensure the safety and quality of every information and communication service including the telecommunication services, and for that purpose, determine technical standards for telecommunication network, the connection of customer equipment to telecommunication networks.”

Documents and presentations made since the 2009 September 3 Multi-Stakeholder Consultation on RF Safety can be viewed by clicking on Events under Publications and ICT Laws (http://www.icta.mu)