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Find out moreWe are excited to share the latest edition of the Law Update, beautifully and appropriately titled “Sustainable Horizons: The Saudi Arabian Vision.” Giving special honor to the Kingdom’s 2030 vision, this update focuses on a collection of both informative and inspiring articles.
For those in construction, you can learn about how the tendering environment impacts risk-pricing for contractors, the updates on the legal framework of the construction industry and how contractors can protect themselves against financial difficulties.
There is good news too from the kingdom’s banking sector, from which the practice of “Open Banking” is being pushed for! But what is open banking? We’re answering that too.
Also . . . Are there any women trail blazers in Saudi Arabia you can name? We’ll help you with that. We cover how the Middle East has been making strides in empowering women in the entrepreneurial space,most notably in STEM fields.
Read the full editionNick O' Connell
It seems that manufacturers of ‘brand name’ mobile phones now have another weapon in their arsenal for combating counterfeit. In this article, we briefly look at the basis upon which the TRA is taking action against counterfeits.
The UAE Telecommunications Law (Federal Law No. 3 of 2003) makes it an offence for anyone to use, sell, offer for sale or connect any telecommunications apparatus that is not ‘Type Approved’. The TRA has exclusive competence in matters relating to Type Approval for Radio and Telecommunications Terminal Equipment (‘RTTE’; see box) in the UAE. The Type Approval regime is intended to protect health and safety, limit electro-magnetic disturbance caused or received by RTTEs, ensure efficient use of the radio spectrum, and protect the workings of public telecommunications networks.
Application
A registered dealer may submit an application for Type Approval by using a prescribed form and by paying a prescribed fee. Additionally, it is necessary to submit a technical datasheet, a Declaration of Conformity (being a signed declaration setting out the Technical Standards with which the RTTE conforms) and letters of support from the manufacturer or its authorized agent.
The Declaration of Conformity, and its supporting documentation, must be prepared in compliance with certain international standards. If the RTTE has already been approved in certain other jurisdictions, then the supporting documentation kept on file by the Registered Dealer need not be as comprehensive as would be required where no such foreign approval had already been secured.
If the application is in order, the registration process would take about two weeks, and last for three years renewable for further periods.
Compliance
The TRA undertakes surveillance to ensure compliance with the Type Approval regime. Non-compliance by falsely claiming to have secured Type Approval is punishable by Under article 73 of the Telecommunications Law, which provides that anyone who manufactures, uses, sells or offer for sale or use, any Telecommunication Apparatus to be connected to a Public Telecommunication Network, knowing that the telecommunications apparatus has not been approved in accordance with the law, is liable to be punished by either or both of imprisonment for not more than one year and a fine of no more than AED 200,000. Counterfeit phones are unlikely to have been through the Type Approval process, and this appears to be the basis upon which the TRA is proposing to take action.
Al Tamimi & Company’s Technology, Media & Telecommunications team regularly advises manufacturers, importers and dealers in respect of Type Approval for RTTEs in the UAE.
BOX:
Radio and Telecommunications Terminal Equipment (‘RTTE’) are ‘telecommunications apparatus employing wireless transmission in the frequency range 9kHz to 3.000 GHz propogated in free space and/or telecommunications apparatus directly connected or intended to be directly connected to a Public Communications Network’.
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