The Office of the Communications Authority (OFCA) of Hong Kong introduced the revised HKCA 2001, “Compliance Test Specification - Safety and Electrical Protection Requirements for Subscriber Telecommunications Equipment”. The Revision 15 was issued in August 2024 and amends item 2 “Safety requirements”.

OFCA informs manufacturers and suppliers of telecommunications devices that compliance of the devices against the Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) limits can be demonstrated using either HKCA 2001 rev. 15 or HKCA 1084 “Conformance Specification for Radiation Safety of Wireless Devices” until December 31, 2025. This means it is possible to use either:

• “Guidelines for Limiting Exposure to Time-Varying Electric, Magnetic, and Electromagnetic Fields (up to 300 GHz)” issued by the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP), or
• IEEE Std C95.1, “IEEE Standard for Safety Levels with Respect to Human Exposure to Radio Frequency Electromagnetic Fields, 3 kHz to 300 GHz” issued by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)

to demonstrate compliance against SAR limits.

Additionally, the evaluation of compliance with the SAR limits can be performed using either:

• IEC 62209-1 (EN 62209-1): “Human exposure to radio frequency fields from hand-held and body-mounted wireless communication devices - Human models, instrumentation, and procedures - Part 1: Procedure to determine the specific absorption rate (SAR) for hand-held devices used in close proximity to the ear (frequency range of 300 MHz to 3 GHz)”
• IEC 62209-2 (EN 62209-2): “Human exposure to radio frequency fields from hand-held and body-mounted wireless communication devices - Human models, instrumentation, and procedures - Part 2: Procedure to determine the specific absorption rate (SAR) for wireless communication devices used in close proximity to the human body (frequency range of 30 MHz to 6 GHz)”
• IEEE Std C95.3: “IEEE Recommended Practice for Measurements and Computations of Radio Frequency Electromagnetic Fields with Respect to Human Exposure to Such Fields, 100 kHz–300 GHz”

or

• IEC/IEEE 63195-1 (EN IEC/IEEE 63195-1): “Assessment of power density of human exposure to radio frequency fields from wireless devices in close proximity to the head and body (frequency range of 6 GHz to 300 GHz) – Part 1: Measurement procedure”
• IEC/IEEE 63195-2 (EN IEC/IEEE 63195-2): “Assessment of power density of human exposure to radio frequency fields from wireless devices in close proximity to the head and body (frequency range of 6 GHz to 300 GHz) – Part 2: Computational procedure”

However, the requirements of HKCA 1084 will become mandatory from January 1, 2026, and the Radiation Protection provisions indicated in HKCA 2001 will be terminated.

OFCA reminds manufacturers and suppliers of telecommunications devices that it reserves the right to revise the contents of this specification without prior notice. It is the responsibility of the interested parties to ensure that their equipment conforms to the latest requirements.

The full text of the specification you can find here.

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

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