NCA to enforce registration of radio, telecom equipment
Beginning from the second quarter of 2014, manufacturers and dealers of radio and telecommunication terminal equipment will be required to register their facilities with the National Communications Authority (NCA) before they can use them in the country.
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The measure is in line with the new type approval and dealer licensing regime being introduced by the NCA to ensure the rights of consumers and safety of equipment.
The Deputy Director of NCA, Mr Albert Enninful, made this known at a workshop to sensitise the public to the regulatory framework for the new regime in Accra last Thursday.
He said the new regime would also improve and streamline existing procedures for approving telecommunication and radio terminal equipment.
Legal backing
He said new type approval and licensing regime was backed by the Electronic Communications Act of 2008.
He said under the law, NCA was empowered to certify and ensure the testing of communication equipment complied with international, environmental health and safety standards, including electromagnetic radiation and emissions.
Regulations 78 and 79 of the Electronic Communications Regulations L.I.1991 enjoin the authority to ensure that communication equipment used for radio transmission for commercial purposes is duly type-approved.
According to Mr Albert Enninful, the act made it clear that telecommunications equipment brought into Ghana should meet the national and international standards.
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Expectations
He said the NCA expected stakeholders to work with the NCA’s list of approved and accredited test laboratories and provide consumers and the general public with safe and quality products.
Mr Isaac Boateng of the Regulatory Administration Division, NCA, in his presentation on the outline of the new type approval and dealer licensing regime, said that type approval was a simple demonstration that ensured that specified requirements relating to a product were fulfilled.
He said type approval would be required before a product was introduced unto the market.
Who should apply ?
According to Mr Boateng, manufacturers of radio and telecommunication terminal equipment on implementation of the new regime would be mandated to apply and obtain type approval certificates.
“Type Approval certificate is granted to a product that meets a minimum set of regulatory, technical and safety requirements. Type approval simply means that the product is guaranteed to meet certain requirements for its type, whatever that may be,” he added
Mr Boateng said that the NCA would be engaging with appropriate security agencies to ensure that all such products imported were type-approved.
He cautioned that stakeholders who did not comply would be sanctioned according to the law.
Writer’s email: doreen.andoh@graphic.com.gh