The buttons above provide links to related pages.
  More links can also be found at the bottom of the page.
  The "website guide" button takes you to a contents list.

Executive Summary

Introduction

1.1 In accordance with the requirements of section 403(4) and (5) of the Communications Act 2003 (“the Act”) this document gives notice of Ofcom’s intention to amend the Wireless Telegraphy (Exemption) Regulations (2003) through the creation of new Regulations, the Wireless Telegraphy (Exemption)(Amendment) Regulations 2006 (“the Amendment Regulations”).

1.2 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.

1.3 In a consultation which was published on 14 July and closed on 22 September 2006 Ofcom described a number of proposals for licence exemption to which it received 67 non-confidential responses. These are listed in Annex 3 and are published on Ofcom’s website at http://www.ofcom.org.uk/consult/condocs/wtexemption/responses/. In addition Ofcom received two confidential responses to the proposals.

1.4 Of these 69 responses, in the case of each exemption proposal, the large majority of respondents either supported or voiced no objections to Ofcom’s plans. Ofcom has however, given consideration to those objections which were raised and these are addressed in Section 2 of this document. This consideration has not caused Ofcom to amend its proposals and subsequently this document gives notice of Ofcom’s intention to implement the proposals as originally.

1.5 Exemption is realised by describing the details of equipment and the parameters under which it may be used in Regulations which exempt users of such equipment from the need to hold a WT Licence provided they comply with the terms of the Regulations. There are a number of reasons for the current exemption proposals:

1.6 Draft Regulations – the Wireless Telegraphy (Exemption)(Amendment) Regulations 2006 – are included in this document at Annex 1. Further hard copies of these Regulations are available from Ofcom at 2a Southwark Bridge Road, London SE1 9HA from the contact specified in Annex 4 for responding to this Notice. Comments on the draft are invited by 6 November 2006. Subject to consideration of responses Ofcom intends to bring the new Regulations into force in early December 2006.

1.7 Section 3 of this document sets out the extent of application, scope and intended effect of the Regulations

1.8 A Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) for the Regulations is available at Annex 2 to this document. The RIA sets out the risks, costs and benefits of Ofcom’s decision and the effects that these will have on the costs to business.

Overview of Proposed Changes

1.9 The changes to be implemented are as follows: