The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) of the United States has published guidelines for modular transmitter instruction manuals and for the process of application reviews by a Telecommunication Certification Body (TCB). This document helps applicants to understand which documents are mandatory and what they should contain to be successfully reviewed by a TCB during the certification procedure.

Let's take a quick look at the key points of this document:

It is worth mentioning that instructions provided by applicants should describe not only use conditions that are applicable to the modular transmitter  but point out the items that must be provided in the integration instructions for host product manufacturers to use when integrating a module in a host product. The applicants should include information in their instructions for all these items indicating clearly when they are not applicable. It will make the review process much easier.

The applicant should also remember that if the modular transmitter is not intended for sale to third parties, the instruction may not be detailed. However, it is necessary to indicate that the product is not for sale and the instruction is an internal confidential document.

One of the essential moments for module applicants is to indicate the RF exposure conditions in an explicit way that permit a host product manufacturer to use the module.

Another important thing is to type the specific rule part for the module that is listed on the grant to show that the module has its own FCC rules that are not the same with the end-product. However, if the applicant decided not to indicate the specific rule, but use the whole subpart, such as “Part 15 Subpart B”, he should give the additional information that the statement concerns only the module and the final product will still need Part 15 Subpart B compliance testing with the modular transmitter installed.

As it was mentioned above, the guidance also contains the list of documents for the TCB review. The list contains the following:

• Cover Letter Request for Module Certification (the cover letter must clearly indicate that the modular transmitter will be a single, limited, split, or limited-split module)  
• RF Exposure Information  
• Internal Photos of the module (the module should be clearly delineated)  
• User Manual—Integration Instructions  
• Test Set-Up Photos (must contain the description of the device)  
• Test Reports  
• External photos (where the module is clearly shown)  
• Label (information about the placement and content of the label should be indicated)

The full text of the guidance is available here.

Although the guidance is effective since May 1, 2019, it is recommended to start using it now.

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The information has been prepared by the GMA Consult Group team. ‍

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