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Annex 2

Summary of ICNIRP guidelines
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In 1998, the International Commission on Non‐Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) published
their guidelines on limiting exposure to EMF, to protect against all known adverse health effects.
This publication resulted from a thorough review of the scientific literature and assessed all health
risks to both the general public and workers. The exposure limits have incorporated large safety
factors to allow for uncertainties in the sensitivities of people to EMF and in the scientific studies.
Basic restrictions

In the frequency range from 10 MHz to 10 GHz, that includes the frequencies used for mobile and
wireless communications, the RF exposure limits (basic restrictions) are expressed as SAR values,
see Table 4. The specific absorption rate (SAR) is the rate at which RF energy is absorbed in body
tissues and is expressed in units of W/kg.

Table 4 – ICNIRP basic restrictions applicable to wireless services 10 MHz to 10 GHz

Type of Frequency Whole body Localised SAR Localised SAR
exposure average SAR (head and (limbs) (W/kg)
(W/kg) trunk) (W/kg)

Occupational 10 MHz ‐10 GHz 0.4 10 20
worker

General 10 MHz ‐10 GHz 0.08 2 4
public

For frequencies from 10 GHz to 300 GHz, the ICNIRP basic restrictions are given in terms of power
density, see Table 5.

Table 5 – ICNIRP basic restrictions applicable to wireless services between 10 GHz and 300 GHz

Type of exposure Equivalent plane wave
2
power density (W/m )
Occupational exposure 50
General public 10

Reference levels

The ‘basic restrictions’ are the actual limits based on the mechanism by which the RF fields affect
tissues. For practical assessments, ICNIRP also provides the equivalent frequency dependent
2
"reference levels", expressed as electric field (V/m), magnetic field (A/m) and power density (W/m ),
so that RF measurement equipment can be used to determine compliance, see Table 6. While the

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20 http://www.icnirp.org/cms/upload/publications/ICNIRPemfgdl.pdf

642 ITU‐T's Technical Reports and Specifications