The National Communications Commission (NCC) recently reviewed and updated its checklist for radio frequency equipment. Following the review, low-power devices below 10mW for Bluetooth, Zigbee, near field communication and radio remote control devices below 1mW operated on unlicensed bands will be excluded from prior approval for distribution.

The NCC nevertheless underlined that deregulated equipment will remain subject to compliance with the technical specifications of low-power radio frequency equipment, which were previously amended on 23 August 2016 and approved by the NCC. In the event of any interference, the NCC is empowered to ban the distribution, restrict the use of and order the recall of equipment.

In July 2017 the NCC exempted low-power radio frequency equipment (eg, wireless mice, keyboards, headphones, selfie sticks, stylus pens and object locators applying Bluetooth in bands from 2.4GHz to 2.4835GHz) from licensing and prior approval (for further details please see "NCC allocates more spectrum for Internet of Things").

The updated control list will apply to the new Telecoms Act, which took effect from 1 July 2020.