RF-EMF Standards in Malaysia

1. MCMC regulation on the RF EMF emissions from mobile phone base stations and other communications installations is determined in the  mandatory standard titled “Commission Determination on the Mandatory Standard for Electromagnetic Field Emission from Radio-communications Infrastructure”
    
2. The exposure limits for RF emission defined by ICNIRP and MCMC are 4.5 W/m at 900MHz frequency, 9W/m at 1800MHz frequency and 10W/m at 2000MHz frequency and above.
    
3. Based on various inspections, the average RF emission level recorded from telecommunication transmitters in Malaysia is 0.000093W/m. The emission levels are well below the exposure limits stipulated by MCMC and ICNIRP (< 1.0 % of the permissible exposure limit).

4. The MS is based on the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) standards and it applies to Network Facility Providers (NFP) and Network Service Providers (NSP) owning and operating the radiocommunications infrastructures such as the base station transmitters.

5. ICNIRP is a non-governmental organization formally recognised by World Health Organization (WHO).
    
6. The exposure limits for EMF fields published by ICNIRP were developed following reviews of all the peer-reviewed scientific literature, including thermal and non-thermal effects.
    
7. The main conclusion from the WHO reviews is that EMF exposures below the limits recommended in the ICNIRP international guidelines do not appear to have any known consequence on health.

8. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and International Electrotechnical (IEC) also produced their own recommendations on RF-EMF emissions:
   1. C95.1-2005 - IEEE Standard for Safety Levels with Respect to Human Exposure to Radio Frequency Electromagnetic Fields, 3 kHz to 300 GHz
   2. IEC 62209-2:2010 - Human exposure to radio frequency fields from hand-held and body-mounted wireless communication devices