The Directorate‑General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (DG GROW) of the European Commission has replied to Phonegate Alert regarding the formal objection lodged by France concerning standard EN 50566 and the measurement protocol for the Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) at torso level. Our NGO takes note, with interest but caution, of the announcement that the new harmonised standard should be published in the Official Journal of the European Union in the first quarter of 2026.
Better protection for users’ health after six years of citizen mobilisation
Phonegate Alert welcomes this step forward but denounces the delay of five to six years between the scientific warning (ANSES 2019), France’s formal objection (2020) and the announced entry into force of the new standard. Throughout this entire period, no European precautionary measures were put in place to protect users’ health, even though the action of our NGO has already led, since 2018 in France, to the withdrawal or software update of dozens of mobile phone models with non‑compliant SAR values and several non‑compliant connected devices.
A new standard announced, but many grey areas remain
Another major concern is that, at this stage, the Commission has neither specified the exact content of the amendment nor clarified whether torso SAR will finally be measured in direct contact with the skin (0 mm) to reflect real‑life use conditions (trouser pockets, bras, bags, etc.), as recommended by ANSES. Phonegate Alert is calling for full transparency on the amended standard as soon as it is transmitted to the Commission.
“The European Commission is finally announcing a new standard, but only after years of inaction that have left hundreds of millions of Europeans insufficiently protected. Thanks to the mobilisation of citizens and our NGO, this dossier is at last moving forward, but we will be there in 2026 to verify whether this standard is truly up to the public health challenge,” declares Dr Marc Arazi, President of Phonegate Alert.
Phonegate Alert: keeping up the pressure for a genuine overhaul of SAR standards
Founded in 2018, Phonegate Alert has played a key role in gaining recognition, at both national and European level, of the problems with SAR test standards and the discrepancy with users’ real‑life exposures. The NGO’s action has already helped to reduce, in France and in Europe, the SAR measurement distance from 15 to 25 mm (until June 2017) to 5 mm, a first step towards obtaining measurements in direct contact with the skin. Phonegate Alert will continue its advocacy work with European institutions and Members of the European Parliament to ensure that this revision is not just a technical adjustment, but the first step in a comprehensive overhaul of current SAR standards, which are still profoundly inadequate.