How is compliance with the emission limits for mobile phone base stations checked?

In Germany, legally binding framework regulations guarantee that electromagnetic fields – emissions – from mobile phone base stations remain within legal limits. These limits are set out in the 26th Ordinance Implementing the Federal Immission Control Act (Ordinance on electromagnetic fields – Verordnung über elektromagnetische Felder zum Bundes-Immissionsschutzgesetz – 26 BImSchV), which thus provides the legal basis for the operation of all mobile phone networks.

Ordinance 26 (26 BImSchV) allocates the responsibility for verifying that each individual base station complies with the provisions of the Immission Control Act to the Federal Network Agency for Electricity, Gas, Telecommunications, Post and Railway (Bundesnetzagentur) – both before the base station goes into operation and once it has started operating. Base stations may only operate once they have been awarded a so-called “site certificate”. In order to obtain a certificate, they have to complete the procedures stated in the Ordinance on the means of providing proof as regards limiting exposure to electromagnetic fields (Verordnung über das Nachweisverfahren zur Begrenzung elektromagnetischer Felder – BEMFV). This also includes tests at the base station to measure the actual emissions at the site.

Site certificates as control measures

The first step for the mobile network operator is to communicate all relevant operational data for a planned base station to the Federal Network Agency. These data include the technical details of the transmitting antenna and the type of antenna, its transmission power and transmission direction and the number of radio channels. From this information, the Federal Network Agency calculates how far from the station the electromagnetic fields reach the legal limits. The calculation is based on the maximum transmission power possible for the base station. In order to work out the safe distance applying to the installation, the calculation takes into account the emissions from the new mobile phone base station as well as all other existing fields, for instance from neighbouring radio transmitters. The Federal Network Agency will only issue a site certificate once the safe distance has been determined. Then the base station can be built.

Regular controls of electromagnetic emissions

The Federal Network Agency also inspects base stations that are already in operation. It undertakes inspections at irregular intervals and without prior notice to verify that the mobile phone base stations and their operation correspond to the information on the site certificate. The operator must apply for a new certificate whenever a technical modification to the installation influences the level of emissions and thus the calculation of the safe distance.

The actual emissions, i.e., the electromagnetic fields that will reach people near the installation, are of key importance when the environmental effects of the base station are assessed. The Federal Network Agency measures emissions all over Germany in order to provide the corresponding information. Around 2000 measurements per year have been carried out since 2003, mainly in the vicinity of mobile phone base stations. So far, results show that emissions lie far below the limits recommended by the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP).