EMC regulation in Canada: ISED and the ICES standards
How Canada regulates unintentional radio-frequency emissions through the ISED Interference-Causing Equipment Standards (ICES), ICES-003, labelling and radio standards.
In Canada, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) regulates radio-frequency interference from electronic equipment under the Radiocommunication Act. The technical requirements are published as Interference-Causing Equipment Standards (ICES).
The main standards
- ICES-003 covers information technology equipment, including digital apparatus. It is the Canadian counterpart of FCC Part 15 Subpart B, and its current issue (Issue 7, announced by ISED in 2020) is based on CISPR 32. It has Class A and Class B limits (Class B for equipment used in residential settings).
- ICES-001 covers industrial, scientific and medical (ISM) radio-frequency equipment. Equipment used only as ISM falls under ICES-001 rather than ICES-003.
- Other ICES documents cover other equipment categories, and a general-requirements document (ICES-Gen) sets out requirements common to all of them, including labelling.
How compliance is shown
Equipment under ICES-003 is in a category that does not need ISED certification or registration. The manufacturer demonstrates compliance by testing to the standard, keeping the records and applying the prescribed bilingual compliance label, for example CAN ICES-003(B) / NMB-003(B) for Class B or CAN ICES-003(A) / NMB-003(A) for Class A.
Radio transmitters
Equipment that transmits intentionally is covered separately by Radio Standards Specifications (RSS) and generally needs ISED certification.
Immunity
There is no general Canadian immunity requirement for ordinary products; it appears through sector rules (for example medical devices) and customer requirements.
Where to check
The ISED site publishes the current ICES documents and notices; use it for the issue in force and the labelling rules.