Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA) for Conformity Assessment of Telecommunications Equipment
In June 1998, the APEC Telecommunications and Information Ministers agreed to update APEC-wide processes for the testing and type-approval of telecommunications equipment. This landmark arrangement, the Mutual Recognition Arrangement for Conformity Assessment of Telecommunications Equipment (APEC TEL MRA), was the first multilateral agreement of its type in the world.
The APEC TEL MRA is a government to government arrangement that goes into effect when two or more economies agree to implement its framework. It is intended to streamline the conformity assessment procedures for a wide range of telecommunications and telecommunications-related equipment and to facilitate trade among the APEC member economies.
It provides for the mutual recognition of Conformity Assessment Bodies (CABs) and mutual acceptance of the results of testing and equipment certification procedures undertaken by those bodies in assessing conformity of equipment to the importing economy's technical regulations.
In order to implement the MRA, the U.S. requires an exchange of letters between participating economies to define the details of the agreement. The exchange letters identify the designating authority (DA) for each economy. All interactions regarding the CABs are submitted to the FCC through the DA.
The scope of the MRA includes all equipment subject to telecommunications regulations, including wire and wireless, network terminal attachments, terrestrial and satellite equipment. For such equipment the APEC TEL MRA covers electromagnetic compatibility (EMC), radio and telephone terminal equipment requirements.
The APEC TEL MRA is a multi-lateral, single sector agreement regarding the conformity assessment of telecommunications equipment. The MRA has two phases:
* Phase I is for the mutual acceptance of test data.
* Phase II is for the mutual acceptance of equipment approvals.
There are 21 economies which are members of APEC..
The U.S. participates within the APEC TEL MRA in Phase 1 with*
- Australia
- Canada
- Chinese Taipei
- Hong Kong, China
- Malaysia
- New Zealand
- Republic of Korea
- Singapore
- Viet Nam
The U.S. participates within the APEC TEL MRA in Phase II with:*
*To view the exchange letters with each economy click on the economy name above.
The following documents and publications providing information on the MRA and information for economies to follow to enable them to participate can be found at:
http://www.apec.org/groups/som-steering-committee-on-economic-and-technical-cooperation/Working-groups/telecommunications-and-Information/apec_tel-mra.aspx or by clicking on the links below:
For each APEC economy with a website, a link to their MRA web page can be found at: http://www.apec.org/groups/som-steering-committee-on-economic-and-technical-cooperation/Working-groups/telecommunications-and-Information/apec_tel-mra.aspx
In the U.S., the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is a designating authority. The NIST APEC TEL MRA website may be accessed at: https://www.nist.gov/standardsgov/what-we-do/conformity-assessment/mutual-recognition-agreements-mras