FCC Changes Rules for Testing Facilities

As of July 13, 2016 manufacturers looking for FCC certification for the EMC approval of products for sale in the US must utilize an FCC Recognized Accredited Laboratory.Previously manufacturers seeking FCC certification were permitted to use laboratories which were FCC Listed or laboratories who were FCC Recognized Accredited Test Laboratories like NTS.There are nearly 600 FCC Listed labs worldwide who must achieve accreditation as FCC Recognized accredited test laboratories before the end of the transition period. However, a condition for accreditation is that the laboratory must be physically located in a country with which the USA has a Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA) or obtain accreditation from a FCC recognized laboratory accreditation body. Countries who currently have MRA’s in place are the US, Canada, EU, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Israel. Visit the FCC.gov website for the list of FCC accepted test laboratory accrediting bodies here: https://apps.fcc.gov/oetcf/mra/reports/AccreditingBodyReport.cfm .It is anticipated that there will be an increase in demand for testing at the FCC Recognized laboratories as these changes go into effect, act today and contact NTS to discuss your program and schedule your product testing early!