The National Communications Commission (NCC) is considering waiving the requirement for certification for some low-power electronic devices before they can be sold in Taiwan.
The devices include headsets or selfie sticks utilizing Bluetooth technology and other devices transmitting signals through radio frequencies, the commission said.
NCC spokesperson Yu Hsiao-cheng (虞孝成) said earlier this week that the commission is still formulating the details of the policy, but experts have warned that the waiver cannot guarantee that the signals emitted from these devices would not interfere with those of 3G or 4G services.
Yu said that the commission wanted to waive the certification requirement for all these devices because of the numerousness and great variety of these products.
He said that it is impossible for the commission to track down every single illegally imported product and penalize all the importers.
Therefore, rather than asking importers to have all of the specified electronic devices certified prior to their entry to the country, he said that the importers would only be punished if their devices were found to cause interference.
“These devices use frequencies that are different from the ones used by mobile communication service providers, so interference [with other systems] should not be a problem,” Yu said, adding that the commission would outline specifications for the devices before it enforces the policy.
Yu said that the commission would determine the number of devices to which the waiver applies, adding that the commission would address the interference issues should it receive any complaints from users.
Consumers purchasing some of these devices would also be informed that they are buying them at their own risk, he said.
Yu said the waiver would allow manufacturers to launch their products quickly and easily if their products were made based on the government-approved standards.
The cost of manufacturing the products would drop because of the absence of the certification fee, Yu said.
Retailers of the products can be freed from the hassle of having to certify the products first, while consumers can purchase the products at lower prices as well, he said.
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