What happens if one sells, imports or uses non-compliant low-power transmitters?
The FCC rules are designed to control the marketing of low-power transmitters and, to a lesser extent, their use. If the operation of a non-compliant transmitter causes interference to authorized radio communications, the user should stop operating the transmitter or correct the problem causing the interference. However, the person (or company) that sold this non-compliant transmitter to the user has violated the FCC marketing rules in Part 2 as well as federal law.
The act of selling or leasing, offering to sell or lease, or importing a low-power transmitter that has not gone through the appropriate FCC equipment authorization procedure is a violation of the Commission’s rules and federal law. Violators may be subject to an enforcement action by the Commission’s Field Operations Bureau that could result in:
- forfeiture of all non-compliant equipment
- $100,000/$200,000 criminal penalty for an individual/organization
- a criminal fine totalling twice the gross gain obtained from sales of the non-compliant equipment
- an administrative fine totalling $10,000/day per violation, up to a maximum of $75,000
