(1)

Short-range devices (SRDs) are typically mass-market and/or portable products which can easily be taken and used across borders. Differences in spectrum access conditions may prevent their free movement, increase their production costs and create risks of harmful interference with other radio applications and services due to unauthorised use. Commission Decision 2006/771/EC (2) harmonises the technical conditions for use of spectrum for a wide variety of short-range devices.

(2)

Decision No 243/2012/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council (3) requires Member States in cooperation with the Commission to foster, where appropriate, the collective use of spectrum as well as shared use of spectrum in order to improve efficiency and flexibility, and to seek to ensure spectrum availability for the ‘Internet of Things’ (IoT) including for radio-frequency identification (RFID). The technical conditions for using the 863-870 MHz frequency range for IoT including for RFID are covered by Decision 2006/771/EC, which sets the general harmonised technical conditions for using a wide variety of short-range devices which, as a result, are subject to no more than a general authorisation under national law. However, the sharing environment in the 874-876 MHz and 915-921 MHz bands deviates from this approach to spectrum for short-range devices and therefore calls for a specific regulatory regime.

(3)

On the basis of the permanent mandate issued in July 2006 to the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations (CEPT) under Article 4(2) of Decision No 676/2002/EC to update the Annex to Decision 2006/771/EC to technological and market developments in the area of short-range devices, the Commission specifically asked the CEPT in July 2014, in its guidance letter for the corresponding sixth update cycle (RSCOM 13-78rev2), to examine the possibility of introducing short-range devices in the 870-876 MHz and 915-921 MHz bands while allowing national administrations some flexibility and protecting existing use of spectrum for public order and public security purposes and defence (such as unmanned aeronautical and ground vehicles, remote control and telemetry, tactical radio relays, tactical communication systems and data links) and railways.

(4)

In response, on 6 March 2017 the CEPT submitted an Addendum (RSCOM17-07) to its 17 July 2016 Report 59, which provides conclusions regarding the possibility of technically harmonised use of the 870-876 MHz and 915-921 MHz bands in order to enable the introduction of technically advanced RFID solutions as well as new short-range devices enabling new types of machine-to-machine and IoT applications. These machine-to-machine and IoT applications are based on networked short-range devices under the control of network access points which, as fixed network access points in a data network, act as a connection point for the other short-range devices in such a network to service platforms outside of that network by transferring data collected from terminal nodes under their control. These possibilities for harmonisation also take into account new opportunities in the 863-868 MHz band already harmonised for short-range devices.

(5)

RFID devices using spectrum in the lower 900 MHz range are available almost everywhere in the world. Ensuring their full availability also in the Union would create new global usage opportunities, which would benefit Union companies. In the same way, networked short-range devices, which enable a broad range of IoT applications including low-cost IoT, could benefit from this global harmonisation potential and could also make applications such as global asset tracking possible or help innovative Union smart home device developers to increase their market reach. These new devices therefore represent an important, fast-growing sector with high innovation potential. The Union should benefit from the almost global availability of such devices and corresponding applications and from the resulting important economies of scale and lower costs by ensuring the harmonisation of technical spectrum usage conditions within the 874-876 MHz and 915-921 MHz bands in all Member States.

(6)

Harmonised technical usage conditions establish a predictable sharing environment by specifying within a frequency band for a given category of short-range devices transmit power, field strength or power density limits, as well as some additional parameters and usage restrictions, based on underlying compatibility studies. Such conditions should be able to prevent harmful interference, foster the reliable and efficient use of frequency bands and allow flexibility for a variety of applications. As a result, they should make it possible for most short-range devices in most Member States to be operated on a non-exclusive and shared basis, subject to a general authorisation regime under national law, similar to short-range devices harmonised under Decision 2006/771/EC. This is without prejudice to Article 5 of Directive 2002/20/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (4) and Article 9(3) and (4) of Directive 2002/21/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (5), as well as in line with Article 7 of Directive 2014/53/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council (6) regarding the possibility to impose additional requirements for shared non-exclusive use of these bands for certain reasons, where harmonised technical conditions or general authorisation conditions are not sufficient to ensure appropriate quality of service.

(7)

While the 873-876 and 918-921 MHz bands are not harmonised for GSM-R usage by Union law or by a European Communications Committee (ECC) decision, they may be used for this purpose on a national basis subject to national decision in line with Radio Regulations of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU Radio Regulations). Hence, where harmonised technical conditions under general authorisations would not be sufficient to protect such a use of 873-876 MHz and 918-921 MHz bands for a national extension of GSM for Railways (E-GSM-R), concerned Member States should be able to subject the use of short-range devices to individual non-exclusive authorisations or to specific installation or operation requirements, geographical restrictions or specific mitigation techniques without impacting the harmonised technical conditions for access to spectrum for short-range devices within the bands. Such restrictions, where needed in a particular Member State, could in particular ensure that coordination takes place in order to enable geographic sharing between E-GSM-R on the one hand and RFID devices and networked short-range devices on the other hand.

(8)

Moreover, in accordance with Article 1(4) of Decision No 676/2002/EC, as Member States retain the right to organise and use their radio spectrum for public order and public security purposes and defence, they should remain free to protect the existing and future use of these bands and of adjacent bands for military and other public security and public order purposes while pursuing the aim of making available the minimum harmonised core bands for networked short-range devices according to the technical conditions defined in this Decision.

(9)

In 2012, the European railway community started the Future Rail Mobile Communications System (FRMCS) project to prepare for the introduction of a successor to GSM-R. Since this project was not advanced enough at the time of preparation of the Addendum (RSCOM17-07) to CEPT Report 59, the Addendum does not take account of such a future system. The 59th Radio Spectrum Committee meeting on 15-16 March 2017 acknowledged this and invited the Commission to work on a solution which takes account of possible future FRMCS needs. To that purpose, on 19 June 2017, the Commission organised a stakeholder workshop on ‘Efficient use of spectrum in the bands 870-876 and 915-921 MHz by internet of Things (IoT) and railways’.

(10)

During the workshop, stakeholders who were present (rail, RFID and IoT communities) made a strong request to harmonise the future use of the 870-876 and 915-921 MHz bands. Based on further input from them and additional input from CEPT (RSCOM18-14) following the workshop, and taking into account the opinion of the Radio Spectrum Committee the 874,4-876 and 919,4-921 MHz sub-bands should be reserved for potential future railway use. Furthermore, appropriate spectrum should be made available for RFID and IoT, in order to enable their main benefits and achieve a harmonised approach across the Union. For this reason, it is necessary to deviate from the Addendum to CEPT Report 59. However, this deviation, while it adjusts location and size of the frequency bands, remains within the limits of the technical conditions as proposed by CEPT.

(11)

The reservation of the 874,4-876 and 919,4-921 MHz bands for FRMCS is subject to further study and may require a review of this Decision regarding these bands in the future.

(12)

Although this Decision allows greater flexibility in implementation compared to Decision 2006/771/EC and although protecting existing use of the bands for public order and public security purposes and defence and railways may lead to restrictions or even partial or total non-availability of spectrum in some Member States, it should prevent any further fragmentation in the bands and enable the use of IoT services, including RFID, in a harmonised minimum core bands across the Union.

(13)

In line with Article 5 and 10 of Decision 676/2002/EC and as required by Commission Decision 2007/344/EC (7) on harmonised availability of information regarding spectrum use within the Community, Member States should report on the implementation of this Decision to the Commission..

(14)

The measures provided for in this Decision are in accordance with the opinion of the Radio Spectrum Committee,

1.

‘short-range devices’ means radio transmitters which provide either unidirectional or bidirectional communication and which transmit over a short distance at low power;

2.

‘networked short-range device’ means a short-range device in a data network, which potentially also covers wider areas; networked short-range devices are under the control of network access points;

3.

‘network access point’ means a fixed terrestrial networked short-range device in a data network that acts as a connection point for the other short-range devices in the data network to service platforms located outside of the data network;

4.

‘data network’ means several networked short-range devices including the network access point as network components and the wireless connections between them;

5.

‘non-interference and non-protected basis’ means that no harmful interference may be caused to any radio communications service and that no claim may be made for protection of these devices against harmful interference originating from radio communications services in the same band;

6.

‘category of short-range devices’ means a group of short-range or networked short-range devices that use spectrum with similar technical spectrum access mechanisms or based on common usage scenarios;