## (3) Advancements in disaster-management radio

Disaster administration wireless communications (Simultaneous Broadcast) are an important means of conveying information from disaster-management administration to evacuation sites, disaster-management bases, and homes. Digital formats that enable interactive communications and data communications are being introduced for these wireless systems to make it possible to

### 3. Establishing radio usage environments

## (1) Promoting policies to counter bioelectromagnetic environmental issues

MIC issued an inquiry to the Information and Communications Council in December 2013 on ways to fashion electromagnetic protection guidelines that are required as safety standards on the strength of electromagnetic signals in the Radio Act and ordinances. The Radio Wave Utilization Environment Committee studied approaches to electromagnetic protection guidelines for low frequencies (10 kHz to 10 MHz) from January 2014 to February 2015. The Information and Communications Council provided a partial report in March 2015.

There has been continued growth, in recent years, of implantable medical devices, such as artificial cardiac pacemakers, and medical devices that provide patients with the equivalent treatment of implantable medical devices, such as portable infusion pumps, that are always connected to the patient. Consequently, the Study Group on the Impact of Radio Signals on Medical Devices, set up in FY 2014, measured the impact of mobile phones (W-CDMA format) on these medical devices using actual devices.

## (2) Promoting policies to counter electromagnetic interference

The Radio Wave Utilization Environment Committee, established under the Information and Communications Technology Subcommittee, Information and Communications Council, surveys and studies policies to counter electromagnetic interference caused by unnecessary radio waves. MIC contributes to debates on international standards at CISPR (Comité International Spécial des Perturbations Radioélectriques) and works, through the promotion of domestic standardization initiatives and other activities, to prevent unnecessary radio waves from interfering with radio communications systems and causing problems with electrical and electronic devices.

The need for wireless power transmission systems that rely on wireless technologies has been mounting in recent years with the move toward smart communities and a sustainable car culture that will address global energy issues. Wireless power transmission systems will make it possible to quickly and easily recharge home electronic devices and electric vehicles. However, its implementation requires due consideration of the impact on society when such systems interfere with other wireless devices and of ensuring the health and safety of people.

address diverse information provision needs, such as collecting disaster information via images, exchanging information with evacuation sites, and notifying information from disaster-management administration via text displays. Digital formats are also being introduced for mobile disaster prevention unit, in addition to the previous analog format, that will make it possible to communicate data and images as well as voice.

To this end, MIC set up the Wireless Power Transmission Working Party under the Radio Wave Utilization Environment Committee, which is part of the Information and Communications Technology Subcommittee, Information and Communications Council, in June 2013. Of the wireless power transmission systems it is reviewing, the Working Party produced a partial report in January 2015 on technical requirements for inductive-coupling wireless power transmission systems that use the 6 MHz band and capacitive-coupling wireless power transmission systems that use the 400 kHz band.

## (3) Ensuring the reliability of radio devices

Modular and chip-based radio devices are increasingly available, driven by technological advances in recent years, and numerous products, such as robot vacuum cleaners, are manufactured and sold with embedded radio devices that have been certified to conform to technical standards. The issue is that the technical standards compliance mark, indicating the modular device has been certified to conform to technical standards, is affixed to the modular device and not to the product that contains the modular device. Therefore, users cannot directly verify the technical standards compliance mark.

In light of this situation, MIC submitted a bill to partially amend the Radio Act to the National Diet in February 2014. The bill included (1) provisions permitting the reprinting of technical standards compliance marks on products and (2) provisions pertaining to the repair of mobile phones and other wireless devices by third parties that permit repair businesses registered with the Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications to self-verify the correctness of repairs and display a mark indicating conformance with technical standards. The bill was passed in April 2014.

MIC arranged the relevant ministerial ordinances in February 2015, which went into force on April 1, 2015, for the introduction of a registered repair business system. Under the system, when it is verified that devices repaired following the applicable repair methods and repair system by a repair business remain in compliance with technical standards established by MIC ordinances, the repair business can be registered with the Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications.

## (4) Preventing radio interference and obstruction

Amid the expanding use of the radio spectrum, it is an increasingly important task to maintain a favorable radio spectrum usage environment by eliminating radio inter-