In the United Kingdom, Ofcom is responsible for the authorisation of civil use of the radio spectrum and achieves this by granting Wireless Telegraphy (“WT”) licences under the Wireless Telegraphy Act 1949 (the “1949 Act”) and by making Regulations exempting users of particular equipment from the requirement to hold such a licence. Under section 1 of the 1949 Act, it is an offence to install or use equipment to transmit without holding a licence granted by Ofcom, unless the use of such equipment is exempted.
Exemption is realised by describing the details of equipment and the parameters under which it may be used in a Statutory Instrument (secondary legislation called Regulations) which exempts users of such equipment from the need to hold a WT Licence provided they comply with the terms of the Regulations. This documents contains proposals to modify existing Regulations for a number of reasons:
- Wherever possible Ofcom seeks to reduce the regulatory burden upon its stakeholders. One way in which it can do this is to remove the need for spectrum users to apply for individual licences to authorise the use of radio equipment.
- Ofcom aims to support the development of innovative radio technologies and applications. The document contains proposals to enable a range of such new technologies to be introduced into the UK and to operate on a licence-exempt basis, or to modify existing arrangements to reflect the evolution of existing technologies.
- Ofcom is responsible for implementing European Commission (EC) Directives or Decisions relating to radio spectrum. Such measures are binding on the UK and must be reflected in UK arrangements. This document sets out plans for implementing a range of new EC Decisions, and also some voluntary harmonisation measures designed to support the single market.
Ofcom plans to implement these changes by amending the current Wireless Telegraphy Exemption Regulations (the “Exemption Regulations”) which came into force in 2003.
