The $22,000 fine against Ravi’s Import Warehouse in Dallas, TX was originally levied in April 2018, following a 2017 visit to the company’s facility by an FCC field agent, who was responding to complaints of interference in the vicinity of the warehouse. During that visit, the owner of the business reportedly acknowledged the use of the jammer on the company’s premises but said that it had been disposed of before the FCC’s visit. The owner declined to voluntarily retrieve the disposed device but then offered to sell the jammer to the FCC agent.
Section 301 of the Communications Act of 1934 prohibits the operation of “any apparatus for the transition of energy or communications or signals by radio…unless such use is licensed or authorized.” Further, Section 333 of the Act states that “no person shall willfully or maliciously interfere with or cause interference to any radio communications…licensed or authorized.”
Published in the Official Journal of the European Union, Regulation (EU) 2022/112 extends for one year the date by which existing in vitro devices that have been reviewed and certified by an EU Notified Body in accordance with the provisions of EU Directive 98/79/EC must comply with the requirements of the IVDR. Manufacturers of these in vitro devices now have until May 27, 2025 to achieve compliance with the updated requirements.
In addition, most in vitro devices that do not require an assessment by a Notified Body will have even more time to bring their devices into compliance with the requirements of the IVDR. Manufacturers of Class C devices will have until the end of May 2026 to affirm compliance with the IVDR, while Class B and Class A devices will have until the end of May 2027.
According to a notice posted on the website of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), Fitbit LLC is recalling four models in its line of Fitbit Ionic Smartwatches following reports the watches’ lithium-ion battery overheated. The company has reportedly received at least 115 reports in the U.S. and 59 reports internationally of battery overheating. Of these, 78 reports in the U.S. and 40 reports internationally indicated that smartwatch wearers suffered burn injuries as a result of battery overheating, including two reports of third-degree burns and four reports of second degree-burns.
The FCC’s Enforcement Advisory reiterates the Commission’s prior messaging on this issue that licensees of amateur and personal radio services are prohibited from using radios “in connection with any activity which is against Federal, State or local law.” Further, the Advisory states that licensees cannot transmit “communications intended to facilitate a criminal act” or “messages encoded for the purposes of obscuring their meaning.”
Under FCC regulations, those found using amateur or personal radio services to commit or facilitate criminal acts are potentially subject to penalties, ranging from fines, seizure of their radio equipment, and even criminal prosecution.
According to Reuters, The New York Times, and other news outlets, a report prepared by a panel of experts convened by the CIA indicates that some of the 1000 U.S. diplomats and intelligent officers posted to Havana, Cuba in 2016 who experienced ear pain, vertigo, and other medical symptoms generally referred to as the Havana Syndrome may have been the target of “pulse electromagnetic energy, particularly in the radio frequency range.”
While the report did not delve into possible sources of the EMP, it did acknowledge that EMP associated with radio waves, microwaves, and X-rays could have been generated “using non-standard antennas and techniques” and that such “signals could be propagated with low loss” through the air and building materials.