Sweden: New rules for ham radio permit applications The SSA reports applications for amateur radio permits will now take 2-3 weeks longer due to National Security considerations A translation of the SSA post reads: PTS [communications regulator] will prepare permit cases with the Security Police and the Swedish Armed Forces from the turn of the year due to a change in the law aimed at strengthening Sweden's security. The authority invites all actors who need a radio permit to apply in good time. From January 1, 2020, testing of permit applications to use radio transmitters will take at least 2-3 weeks longer than before. PTS then has an obligation to consider Sweden's security in connection with the authority examining applications for permits to use radio transmitters. The reason for this is amendments to the Electronic Communications Act that come into force at the turn of the year. In order to be able to assess whether certain radio use can affect Sweden's security, PTS will prepare permit cases with the Security Police and the Swedish Armed Forces. PTS encourages all players who wish to apply for a radio permit to apply in good time. More information Karoline Boström, Head of Unit, 073-644 56 20 PTS press service, 08-678 55 55 Background to the new rules The security policy situation in our world has changed, which places increased demands on security considerations in a number of social sectors. Electronic communication is an area that is central to society's function and overall defense capability. From the turn of the year, amendments to the Electronic Communications Act will take place to protect Sweden's safety in the use of radio. DL7 (SM7HZK) Original text https://www.ssa.se/info-fran-pts/ SSA in Google English https://tinyurl.com/SwedenSSA http://www.southgatearc.org/news/2020/january/sweden-new-rules-for-ham-radio-permit-applications.htm Southgate News is now on ShortWaveRadio We now have a regular Sunday morning news broadcast on ShortWaveRadio.de So tune in every Sunday at 10am UTC on 3975 kHz, The programme is repeated at 14:00 UTC on 6160 kHz and again at 16:00 UTC on 3975 kHz
Looks like Sweden is an Anti-Ham Nation as of 1-1-2020... After all, criminals and terrorists usually don't bother with any kind of licensing before committing crimes or acts of terrorism...
In Sweden licensing for amateur radio and cellular networks are governed by the same law. These recent changes to the law have little or no impact on amateur radio. Rather this is about considering impact on national security when granting licenses for 5G networks. 73, Jonas SM5PHU
To clarify somewhat more, amateur radio in Sweden is "licence exempt", which means that no formal licence application is needed to operate an amateur station. Only the operator proficency certificate is required. This is valid when the amateur radio operations are according to the rules set out in the "Exemption Regulations", which enumerate the categories of radio users that do not need a formal licence, with the associated payment of yearly fees. Among those are CB, PMR, telemetry,dog locators, WiFi, cellular telephones and their likes. As the regulator does not want to bother with individually licensing amateurs, they have included amateur radio on this list, primarily due to its insignificance. However, there are two operational cases that need a formal licence, one where power levels above the stated limits (usually 200 W PEP) are intended to be used, and the other when operating on frequencies outside the bands stated in the regulations is wanted. Then a case-by-case application has to be filed and evaluated. Due to formal requirements in the new amendments of the "Law of Electronic Communications", colloquially known as "Lex Huawei" as its aim, albeit unstated, is to keep Huawei out of the Swedish 5G networks, all licence applications have to be reviewed from a national security perspective, regardless of what the applications may concern. The PTS does however strongly dislike amateur radio, but for other reasons than "national security". 73/ Karl-Arne SM0AOM
To clarify, for those not familiar with the European Union way of doing: Yes, there is a licence exemption. But bureaucrats dont really like that. So, you still have to register to get a call sign. And registring is only possible after you passed your exam. And yes, you still have to pay an annual fee (that is, in Holland, not in Sweden where it is free, provided you have no more than 200W PEP output). And then, your call will either be assigned by the authorities (Holland) or the national association (Sweden). Bert SA4BRL PA0LPS
Actually there was a "close shave" in Sweden during 2004 that even the exam should have been abolished. This was because the lawyers, that run the PTS, felt that the ITU examination requirement was "an unnecessary burden" for such an insignficant activity as amateur radio, and it took a lot of effort from people that actually knew the Radio Regulations to convince them otherwise. If the lawyers would have had their way, the status and privileges of amateur radio would have been reduced to CB levels. The value of amateur radio in the eyes of the regulators have been reduced to "junk bond status" anyway, but this is another story... 73/ Karl-Arne SM0AOM
I guess the moral of all this is to keep a good national society so there is a voice at the table when rules are changed. Also, watching the legislation is important. In the U.S. we have had to diligently read each state's bills against cell phone use while driving to make certain that they are not written so broadly as to preclude all civilian radio operation. As we all know, amateur radio is barely known by legislators (or, I am sorry to say, most of the general public).
There’s another very important moral, that Karl-Arne has expressed well. Which is that loosening amateur radio license requirements reduces the competence of those in the service and further denigrates the amateur service in the eyes of the regulators. Here in the US we don’t even pay fees to the FCC, which further reduces any reason for them to be concerned about the service. After all, that which is free of either effort or payment is generally treated as being of little value.
A "good national society" is certainly essential in order to avoid trouble. The problem is just when the national society behaves in a way so the regulator loses patience and turns a blind eye to all requests, reasonable or not. This is what happened here due to the actions of the club leadership a few years ago. It is prudent to heed this as a warning... 73/ Karl-Arne SM0AOM
This is another aspect of the "good national society". Most, if not all, clubs measure success in quantity instead of quality. The membership dues from both competent and incompetent members carry the same weight in their coffers. As the "yield" or fraction of new amateurs that actually become active is abysmal, it would make sense to tighten up the requirements so only those that actually have a genuine interest pass the exam. This would not significantly change the number of active amateurs, but would considerably improve our standing among the regulators, and improve the possibilities to expand the privileges, or at least postpone future drastic reductions. 73/ Karl-Arne SM0AOM
Hello , Karl-Arne I suppose this is only related to a request for a Swedish call. Not as a visitor with a CEPT license. 73' André ON7YK
I believe that this is something of "an undefined state". Technically, the privileges of a visitor with a CEPT/HAREC licence are exactly the same as those of the single Swedish licence class, so if anyone wants more privileges (such as more bands or more power) than enumerated in the "Exemption Regulation", an application for a formal licence would be necessary. I do however doubt that the regulator has anticipated this situation. 73/ Karl-Arne SM0AOM
Actually this was a quite good regime while it lasted (mid-1970s), when private possession and use of a radio transmitter still was Serious Business. You had to be known as a law-abiding person to get a licence, and character references such as employers and teachers were contacted. Also, any prospective amateur had to show up in person at a police HQ for an interview. This, and quite hard tests were part of the selection process that kept up the quality. You could be quite sure when dealing with a local amateur that they were reasonably well-behaved persons that were aware of they belonging to an elite. Also, the security police, the civilian radiomonitoring stations and military SIGINT listened a lot on the amateur bands. 50 Hz outside a band limit, a bad signal or bad language could net the offender an official phone call at all hours of day, or a brown envelope with an official letter inside demanding an explanation. 73/ Karl-Arne SM0AOM