Amazon to require FCC certification

Here’s an interesting notice from Amazon:

Action required for radio frequency device listings on Amazon.com

This article was originally published February 1, 2021, and it has been adjusted to reflect a new estimated date for this change.

As part of our ongoing efforts to protect our customers and enhance the customer experience, Amazon is updating the requirements to offer radio frequency devices. This will affect some products you offer or have previously offered.

Starting in Q2 2021, in order to create new listings or update existing listings of radio frequency devices you will need to fill in the FCC Radio Frequency Emission Compliance attribute. In the attribute, you must do one of the following:

Provide evidence of Federal Communications Commission (FCC) authorization – either an FCC certification number or contact information for the Responsible Party, as defined by the FCC.
Certify that the product is exempt from FCC requirements.
As a reminder, per Amazon policy, all radio frequency devices must comply with FCC regulations and all applicable state and local laws, including registration and labeling requirements. Amazon also requires you to provide accurate information about your products on the product detail page.

You may not be aware that you are selling products the FCC considers radio frequency devices. The FCC broadly classifies as radio frequency devices any electronic or electrical product that is capable of emitting radio frequency energy. According to the FCC, almost all electronic or electrical products are capable of emitting radio frequency energy. Examples of products that are regulated by the FCC as radio frequency devices include, but are not limited to: Wi-Fi devices, Bluetooth devices, radios, broadcast transmitters, signal boosters, and devices with cellular technology. FCC guidance on what is considered a radio frequency device can be found on the Equipment Authorization – RF Device page on the FCC website.

We will follow-up with additional information, including a help page, closer to attribute launch.

For more information, see Amazon’s Radio Frequency Devices policy. You can also bookmark this article for future reference.

Some are saying that this is an effort to control the sales of Baofengs. Others point to other radiators, such as LED lights and solar charge controllers. The reddit discussion of this new policy pretty much dismisses this new policy. One comment notes, “This has nothing at all to do with buying radios, it’s just Amazon trying to cover their @$$es over the likes of ‘Rugged radio'(and others) selling uncertified radios as something they’re not.”

I think that this could be interesting if Amazon really got serious about this. I’m not sure that even Amazon has the wherewithal to really do this kind of policing, though.