DoT: 70% handsets made at Nokia Chennai factory partially comply new SAR norms

SAR is a measure of the rate at which energy is absorbed by the body when exposed to a radio frequency electromagnetic field

With the deadline for mobile phone manufacturers to comply with the revised Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) standards by August 31, 2013, an inspection report by Department of Telecommunications (DoT), on June 25, says that its inspection team has found that about 70% of the handsets manufactured at Nokia’s Chennai factory are “in partial compliance” to the new SAR standards.

This has been communicated in an internal submission of DoT dated June 25, 2013. DoT had revised the SAR standards with effect from September 1, 2012.

SAR is a measure of the rate at which energy is absorbed by the body when exposed to a radio frequency (RF) electromagnetic field. Radio waves are emitted by mobile telephone handsets.

The government prepared a new set of guidelines in January 2012 which had to be followed mandatorily by all handset manufacturers which was aimed at reducing emission from the phones.

However, because of requests from many manufacturers asking for more time to comply the government had extended the deadline by one year to August 31, 2013.

However responding to a Business Standard query on the DoT observation the Finnish handset maker, which still is the market leader with more than 20% share in India, has said that the company is “already 100% compliant with first requirement ie SAR value”. Nokia of course like all other mobile manufacturers has time till the deadline to implement the new guidelines.

“Nokia always complies with local exposure guidelines for the countries in which we operate. With the Indian government’s decision in 2012 to adopt a new set of hybrid exposure norms, we began making the necessary changes to ensure that all of our devices will meet these new guidelines by the government’s deadline of September 2013,” Nokia said in e-mailed statement.

A top DoT official said that that there have been random checks at different factories of different handset makers and respective teams have submitted their reports. "This is not final. There is time for the companies. However, DoT will go for proper inspections after the deadline of August 31, 2013.”

Last year, the government had fixed the SAR value on mobile at 1.6 watts/kg averaged over one gram of human tissue. Previously, the SAR value for handsets was 2 watts/kg measured over one gram of tissue. All the companies, both manufacturers and importers of mobile handsets, will have to comply with the revised SAR standards by August 31, 2013.

The revised SAR norms also included that companies will also have to mention the actual SAR measurement value for the particular device and related information in the user manuals. Besides, handsets should display the maximum SAR level of the device, same as mentioned in the user guide, when ‘*#07#’ is keyed in.

“We are already 100% compliant with the first requirement i.e. SAR value; we have made significant progress on the other 2 requirements and are on track to meet the deadline well in time. Nokia was not only the first manufacturer to act on the new standards, but is also the only one to add SAR compliance stickers at the back of our devices,” the company said.

Pankaj Mohindroo, President, Indian Cellular Association, the industry representing mobile phone makers, said, “All new handsets that are coming in the market are complying with the new norms and old handsets are being phased out. But, the Government is not taking any step on the importers of Chinese handsets. DoT should first take steps against them, instead of doing this.”

Micromax CEO Deepak Mehrotra said, “Yes, Micromax is compliant with the new norms proposed by the DoT. We do not foresee any hurdles in adhering to the new norms even in the future.” Lava Mobiles founder SN Rai said that the company is finalising the software requirements for all its devices.

“Most of the new devices are in compliance. The rest will be done before the deadline. Only the fly-by-night players will have difficulty in complying with the norms,” he added.

According to Nokia, majority of its products that are on sale in India now, including all Nokia devices launched since September 2012, already comply with the new hybrid SAR norms. “We comply with the most stringent of international exposure guidelines and limits set by public health authorities across the globe including ICNIRP,” it said.

Samsung did not respond to Business Standard query.