On November 13, 2024, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) officially published the regulation numbered 257122 on the Federal Register website, with an effective date of December 13, 2024. The regulations specify the following requirements for 100% HAC compliance:

• By December 14, 2026, newly certified and modified products must comply with existing HAC2019 standards;
• After December 14, 2026, the product shall:
  • should meet the volume control requirements;
  • Should comply with acoustic coupling requirements (RF emission);
  • It shall meet the T-Coil coupling requirements or Bluetooth coupling requirements, of which the T-Coil coupling requirements shall not be less than 85%, and the rest shall meet the Bluetooth coupling requirements;
• From December 14, 2026 to December 12, 2028, Bluetooth coupling can be a proprietary or universal Bluetooth protocol; After December 12, 2028, only low-power-based universal Bluetooth protocols can be used.

The regulations have indefinitely postponed the requirements for new QR code labels and the filling requirements for FORM855.

Click this link to view the original text of the regulations on 100% HAC on the federal release website.

Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) clarified at the TCBC workshop that ISED considers 802.11ax and 802.11be to be two different technologies and therefore need to be evaluated separately. TCBC members provided data to ISED to support the similarity of 802.11ax and 802.11be. After reviewing the data, the ISED stated that the full RU test of 802.11be was accepted as a proxy for 802.11ax with the same power meter, but any special RU configurations would need to be evaluated separately. TCBC sent a letter to TCBC members on November 13, 2024 to make the above statement.

On 8 November 2024, the Electronic Communications Commission (ECC) of the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administration (CEPT) launched two public consultations:

• Draft CEPT Report 089 - "Report from CEPT to the European Commission in response to the Mandate to develop harmonised technical and operational conditions for the usage of non-active antenna systems aerial terminal stations in EU-harmonised frequency bands for terrestrial systems capable of providing electronic communications services ";
• Draft revisions to ECC decision (06)01 - "The harmonised utilisation of the bands 1920-1980 MHz and 2110-2170 MHz for mobile/fixed communications networks (MFCN) including terrestrial IMT systems".

Click on this link to view the original public consultation, and the comment period is until 20 December 2024.

Following the issuance of Resolution No. 237/2024 by the National Technical Regulatory Agency (DNRT) of Argentina on August 30, 2024, the DNRT issued Provision No. 1/2024 on November 7, 2024. The provision highlights the implementation of Resolution 237/2024 and states that until it becomes mandatory on 28 March 2025, users can use the existing label or the QR code in Article 3.3 of 237/2024. In the attachment to the clause, the specific requirements for QR code labels are also given, examples as follows:

Click this link to view the original text of Provision 1/2024.

On October 29, 2024, the Indian Telecommunications Engineering Centre (TEC) published an addendum on the standards for the certification of telecommunication equipment with special test requirements under the MTCTE. The appendix includes satellite communications equipment that, as long as it meets the operational standards mentioned in the Notice, has the same certification requirements as the Notification No. 6-6/2021-TC/TEC (Pt. II), i.e., alternatives to discontinued products are exempt from MTCTE.

Click on the link to view the original addendum.

On 26 October 2024, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) of Japan launched the following public consultation:

• Report of the Committee on the Next Generation of Mobile Communications Systems (draft) - "Technical specifications for the new generation of mobile communication systems", including "Technical specifications for the fifth generation of mobile communication systems (5G) (RedCap/eRedCap)". Click on the link to view the original public consultation, and the comment period is until 25 November 2024.
• Land Radiocommunication Commission Report (Draft) - "Technical Conditions for the Complexity of Low-Power Radio Systems" - "Technical Conditions for the Complexity of Wireless LAN Systems" - "Technical Conditions for the Use of 5 GHz Wireless LAN in the Air". Click on the link to view the original public consultation, and the comment period is until 26 November 2024.

On October 25, 2024, the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) of Vietnam issued Circular No. 13/2024/TT-BTTTT, along with the National Technical Regulation on Electromagnetic Compatibility of Terrestrial Mobile Radio Equipment and Terrestrial Radio Trunks QVCN 100:2014/BTTTT. The effective date of the regulation is January 1, 2025, from January 1, 2025 to June 30, 2025, applicants can choose between QVCN 100:2015/BTTTT or QVCN 100:2014/BTTTT, and the latest standard must be used after June 30, 2025.

Click on this link to view the original text of the Circular and QVCN 100:2014/BTTTT regulation.

On October 25, 2024, the Ministry of Information and Communications of Vietnam issued the Draft Circular on the Allocation Plan for Radio Frequency Channels in the Fixed Service in the 71-76 GHz and 81-86 GHz Bands.

Click this link to view the original draft and the comment period is until December 25, 2024.

On 25 October 2024, the Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA) released a draft of the Conditions for Type Approval Licence for public consultation. The draft specifies that all approved devices must bear a certification label with the MACRA certification mark, device model, and approval identifier. Labels need to follow specified color and design specifications to ensure visibility and security. An example of a certification label in the case of black is as follows:

Click this link to view the original draft, and the comment period is until 15 November. The expected implementation date of the regulation is set for December 1, 2024.

On 24 October 2024, the Eswatini Communications Commission (ESCCOM) published new guidelines for the use of license-exempt frequency bands. The document provides detailed technical specifications and requirements for a variety of products and applications, including short-range equipment (SRD), automotive equipment, data networking equipment, telecommunications/terminal equipment, and multimedia equipment.

Manufacturers and importers must ensure that their products receive type approval from the Commission and comply with the permissible frequency bands, power limits, and other technical parameters outlined in the guidelines. These guides cover a variety of technologies and applications, including LoRaWAN, Sigfox, WAS/RLAN for BFWA, non-specific short-range devices, track and trace, rail applications, transportation and traffic telematics, radiodetermination, alarming, model control, sensing applications, wireless microphone applications, active medical implants, RFID, and medical data acquisition, among others.

The guidelines also emphasize compliance with international standards, such as ERC Recommendation 70-03 and the ICNIRP Guidelines. Notably, the document encourages the migration of IoT services from IPv4 to IPv6. Failure to comply with these guidelines may result in operational closure and other enforcement actions.

Click this link to view the original text of the new guide.