Mobile Telephony and Health Protection Policy in the UK

Introduction

The advice from HPA (formerly NRPB) and ICNIRP is available to policy makers to use and implement as they see appropriate. This section summarises the various policy implementations of scientific advice on limiting exposure to electromagnetic fields as they apply in the UK.

There is no explicit UK legislation that limits people's exposure to electromagnetic fields, including the radio waves used in mobile telephony, but there are a number of other regulatory and voluntary routes through which exposure is controlled. These are summarised below.

European Directives place legal limits on the exposure of people through Harmonised Standards that have been produced for particular types of equipment. There is also a non-mandatory Recommendation from the European Union Council.

UK Health and Safety Legislation

Although there is no specific legislation limiting exposure to electromagnetic fields in the UK, there is enabling legislation in the form of Acts of Parliament affecting health and safety. Such legislation includes the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999.

The safety legislation above is general in its scope in that it does not explicitly mention EMFs, however, inspectors from the Health and Safety Executive accept compliance with the advice from HPA as evidence that exposure to EMFs has been adequately controlled.

A page on the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) website [outside link] explains how it uses HPA advice.

UK Radio Spectrum Legislation

Ofcom, formerly the Radiocommunications Agency, regulates the use of the civil radio spectrum in the UK so different users can co-exist. Ofcom issues licenses to telecommunications network operators under the Wireless and Telegraphy Act and these specify the frequencies that the operators can use and the maximum powers that they can transmit.

Ofcom does not consider health issues when issuing licenses. This is left for the operators of networks to ensure through their obligations under health and safety legislation, as regulated by the Health and Safety Executive.

Regulatory powers under the Radio and Telecommunications Terminal Equipment (R&TTE) Directive rest with Ofcom in the UK. You can find out more from the Ofcom website [outside link].

Ofcom also investigates possible interference problems arising from the operation of radio transmitters.

UK Planning Legislation

The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) develops planning policy guidance for England. The National Assembly for Wales, the Northern Ireland Assembly and the Scottish Executive have developed separate planning guidance on behalf of their devolved regions.

In England, the relevant national policy guidance for telecommunications [outside link] is contained in PPG8 and it can be obtained from the DCLG website [outside link]. 'Health considerations' are covered as sections in the planning policy and in the supporting guidance. There is also a Code of Best Practice on Mobile Phone Network Development [outside link].

European Product Directives

Several European Directives refer to radiation safety, and this is taken to include the non-ionising radiation that constitutes the radio waves used with mobile telephony.

The main Directive that is applicable to mobile telephony and which affects people's exposures to electromagnetic fields is the Radio and Telecommunications Terminal Equipment Directive (1999/5/EC). This Directive draws on the safety requirements in another earlier Directive, the Low Voltage Directive (73/23/EEC).

The text of the Directives [outside link] can be obtained from the European Commission website and the relevant parts are Article 3.1a in the R&TTE Directive and Annex I, part 2b in the LV Directive. Information on implementation of the R&TTE Directive [outside link] in the UK is available from DTI.

The practical implication of these European Directives is that manufacturers wishing to place equipment on the market or put it into service in the UK are required to declare that radiation from the equipment does not pose a hazard when the equipment is used as specified.

European Union Council Recommendation

The European Union Council published a Recommendation on limiting exposure of the general public to electromagnetic fields on 12 July 1999 and the UK Government accepted this. The Recommendation incorporates the restrictions on exposure of the general public advised by ICNIRP in its 1998 guidelines. It also includes policy guidance for the application of the Recommendation. The Recommendation bears on Governments in the EU Member States, including that of the UK. An implementation report describing progress was published in Spring 2002.

Documentation relating to the Recommendation [outside link] is available from the EU website. Follow the link to 'Health and Environment' and then onwards to 'Electromagnetic Fields'.

European Physical Agents Directive

A European Directive   on the minimum health and safety requirements regarding the exposures of workers to the risks arising from physical agents (electromagnetic fields) was published in 2004. The Directive incorporates the basic restrictions and reference levels advised by ICNIRP in 1998 for occupational exposure, although the Directive terms them 'exposure limit values' and 'action values' respectively. The Directive has to be implemented by member states by 30 April 2008 and is being taken forward in the UK by the HSE [outside link].

Harmonised Technical Standards

The European Commission has given a Mandate to certain standards bodies, including the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardisation (CENELEC), to produce product standards so that manufacturers can demonstrate that their equipment does not produce dangerous electromagnetic fields in the context of European Directives.

The standards bodies are asked to take into account the basic restrictions and reference levels in the Council Recommendation, which are numerically equivalent to those in the 1998 ICNIRP guidelines.

Standards are being produced in two parts, with documents known as basic standards explaining how to assess exposure levels and product standards explaining how to compare the assessed exposure values with the ICNIRP guidelines and/or the Council Recommendation.

Technical standards have been published that consider the localised SAR produced in the head of a mobile phone user and the power density in the space around base station antennas. These documents have to be purchased from the British Standards Institute and they have the reference numbers given below.

Many of the Technical Standards produced in this way are listed under the relevant European Directives as Harmonised Standards.

Voluntary Adoption of ICNIRP Guidelines

Several UK-based scientific committees, including the IEGMP, have made recommendations involving the adoption of the ICNIRP guidelines in whole or in part. The IEGMP, at the time of its report, recommended that 'as a precautionary approach, the ICNIRP guidelines for public exposure be adopted for use in the UK rather than the NRPB guidelines' .

The Government responded to the IEGMP that 'in line with the recommended precautionary approach, that the emissions from mobile phones and base stations should meet the ICNIRP guidelines for public exposure, as expressed in the EU Council Recommendation.'

As part of their response to the IEGMP report the five mobile phone network operators agreed to adopt voluntarily the ICNIRP guidelines for public exposure and have published ten commitments to best siting practice at www.mobilemastinfo.com/planning/best_practice.htm

Last reviewed: 17 February 2010