In October 2019, the National Telecommunicationss Comminssions (NATCOM) published the final draft for electronic communications equipment (ECE) type approval regulations. According to the regulations, any ECE should be either type approved or exempted from type approval by the NATCOM.
There are two ways to get the type approval certificate:
- Type Acceptance procedure
- Type Approval procedure
Electronic Communications Equipment have been classified into the following categories:
| Category Number+A1:C7 |
Category Name | Examples |
| One (1) | Terminal Equipment | PDAs, Mobile handsets, POS, Tablets, Wireless Enabled Infotainment Systems, Telephone sets, IP Phones, Mobile Dongles, etc |
| Two (2) | Short Range Radio Devices | Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC Readers, RFID, Keyless Entry Cards, etc. |
| Three A (3A) | Class I Network Equipment (Core Network Equipment) | BSCs, MSCs, BTS, PSTN Switches, Media Gateways, etc. |
| Three B (3B) | Class II Networking Equipment (IT Networking Equipment) |
Servers, Switches, Routers, Routers, Switches, Modems, PBX, Tracking Devices, etc. |
| Four (4) | Radio Transceivers (Transmitter Receivers, Active Antennae Systems, Radios) | Radio, Broadcast, Satellite Equipment, Active Antenna Systems, Receive Only Devices, Base Stations, etc |
| Five (5) | Frequency Dependent Medical Devices | Sealing generators |
All electronic communications equipment (ECE) requires a type approval and should comply to one of the following technical standards / or approval bodies:
- Sierra Leone Standards Bureau (SLSB)
- Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
- International Organization for Standardization (ISO)
- European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI)
- Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineering (IEEE)
- Telecommunications Industry Associations (TIA)
- American National Standards Institute (ANSI)
- Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)
- Industry Canada (IC)
- Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore
If you have questions on the newest regulations, please contact iCertifi.