New standard TEC 13016: 2020 for wireless communication devices

27. October 2022

Telecommunication Engineering Center (TEC) has published the standard TEC 13016: 2020 titled “Specific Absorption Rate SAR for Wireless Communication Devices used in close proximity to the human body” on the TEC website in the year 2020. TEC is the abbreviation for Telecommunication Engineering Center. TEC is the authority in India responsible for the certification for telecommunication products according to the MTCTE (Mandatory Testing Certification of Telecommunication Equipment) regulations.

The Indian Telegraph Amendment Regulations of September 5, 2017 provide that any telecommunication equipment must undergo mandatory testing and certification before sale, import or use in India.
Right now, TEC is working in the direction of updating the standard of SAR (Specific Absorption Rate) based on some of the inputs TEC might have received. A draft of the updated standard has been prepared and until mid of September comments were able to be given from the manufacturers and industry stakeholders.

Category of wireless devices are the following:

• Hand-held RF devices, which are generally intended to be used close to the head such as Cellular/ Mobile/Satellite phones etc.
• Hand-held RF devices, which will be used in close proximity of 20 cm or less to the body such as MRTS handsets /HF/VHF/UHF handsets etc.
• RF devices which are generally intended to be used in close proximity of 20 cm or less to the body such as Wi-Fi dongles, Mobile data cards/dongles, laptops, tablets etc.
• Other IoT/RF devices, which are generally intended to be worn on the body near the head.
• Other IoT/RF devices, which are generally intended to be worn on the body other than as classified in iv above.
• Other IoT/RF devices generally intended to be used in close proximity of 20 cm or less to the body.

For the TEC certification process product tests in India are required in the general certification scheme. If the tests are passed successfully, the authority issues the certificate at the end of the TEC certification process. The certificate is valid for ten years and can then be renewed.

TEC certification has been around many years before 2019 as a voluntary certification, but since April 2019 the certification has been mandatory and every year the Telecommunication Engineering Center (TEC) expands the certification catalog and adds more telecom products. See the list of TEC standards here.

If you are interested in understanding what requirements are needed for your product to be imported into India, please do not hesitate to contact us by email or phone (Europe: +49-69-271 37 69 261, US: +1 773 654-2673). There is no cost or obligation for us to check for you. If a certification need is discovered we can provide a quotation to make sure that all your certification needs are covered.
For more information about TEC certification, please refer to our free brochure “TEC Certification Made Easy“.