In CEPT in Region 1 ECC Report 089 “A RADIO AMATEUR ENTRY LEVEL EXAMINATION AND LICENCE” published in October 2006 describes a third level of amateur licence to supplement the HAREC and Novice licence classes. The report proposes an ENTRY-CLASS including an examination syllabus and its administration. The implementation of this Entry Level Licence proposal across the region is not harmonised and the 2023 GC agreed a task to investigate the state of play. A questionnaire was developed to gather information on national status. 

Reference documents

ECC Report 89 https://​docdb​.cept​.org/​d​o​w​n​l​o​a​d​/​409

IARU R1 ELL Questionnaire: ELL Questionnaire_Aug24 Final

Results of the Questionnaire

The following table summarises the 20 member society questionnaire responses received. These largely represent the situation in mid 2025.

First Question: Has an elementary Licence been implemented in your country?

Member Soc	Country	YES	NO
ARI	Italy		X
CARS	Cyprus		X
CRAM	Mali		X
CRC	Czechia		X [1]
DARC	Germany	X
IARC	Israel	X
IRTS	Ireland		X[3]
LRAA	Liberia	X
MRASZ	Hungary	X
NRRL	Norway		X[2]
RL	Luxembourg	X
RSGB	UK	X
SARA (Seychelles)	Seychelles		X
SARA (Slovakia)	Slovakia		X
SARL	South Africa	X
SRAL	Finland		X
SSA	Sweden	X[4]
UBA	Belgium	X
URA	Andorra		X
URE	Spain		X
VERON	Netherlands		X

Note 1 — A novice licence. 

Note 2: In 2026 Norway has delivered an ELL licence.

Note 3: Ireland consulting Q1 2026.

Note 4: Only planned at the time of the questionnaire.

Further questions explored the detailed status depending on whether the ELL had been implemented or not and these detailed responses can be found here: Detailed responses.

Further views expressed by Countries that have implemented an Entry Level Licence:

Austria: Klasse 3 seems to be equivalent of ELL. The Austrian administration has implemented the ECC Report 89. The acceptance of this license is very low in AUT and there are very few exams. We do not see the need to make a recommendation to regulate the reciprocity for this level.

Belgium: Base License is equivalent of ELL. BIPT has proposed to CEPT to introduce ELL reciprocity.

Estonia: Entry level Class D has been implemented. See Amateur radio stations | Consumer Protection and Technical Regulatory Authority (ttja​.ee)

Germany: Entry level Class N has been implemented on 24 June 2024. see https://​www​.recht​.bund​.de/​b​g​b​l​/​1​/​2​0​2​4​/​1​7​5​/​V​O​.​h​tml

Luxembourg: https://​web​.ilr​.lu/​F​R​/​P​a​r​t​i​c​u​l​i​e​r​s​/​F​r​e​q​u​e​n​c​e​s​-​r​a​d​i​o​e​l​e​c​t​r​i​q​u​e​s​/​C​e​r​t​i​f​i​c​a​t​s​-​d​o​p​e​r​a​t​e​u​r​/​R​a​d​i​o​a​m​a​t​e​urs

Portugal: ANACOM — Procedures forthe amateur service

Romania: Class 4. https://legeaz.net/monitorul-oficial-261‑2017/decizie-ancom-245‑2017-reglementare-serviciu-radio-amator

Sweden: ELL certificate implemented from April 2025. The requirements for the certificate are corresponding to the syllabus in ECC Report 89 (i.e very similar to UK Foundation). It confines certificate holders to a limited set of bands and to factory built (CE-marked) transmitters with 25W max power. It is a national certificate, NOT equivalent to CEPT Novice.

United Kingdom: Foundation License. UK is of the opinion that only full license holders operate abroad under T/R 61 – 01

Views expressed by Countries that have NOT implemented an Entry Level Licence:

Switzerland: In Switzerland, the demand for an ‘Entry level’ class is virtually zero. We have good experience with the Novice and also have a very low failure rate in the exams. 

From this perspective, we see no advantages in expanding or further differentiating our regulation. We will keep it as simple as possible.

We will continue to maintain the Novice and CEPT classes.

Source BAKOM 27.03.2024

Observations

The responses to the questionnaire suggest the following:

1. Entry level licence terminology is not harmonised creating interpretation difficulties.
2. Support for an entry level licence varies and is not unanimous amongst national societies.
3. Roughly 50% of the respondents indicate that an entry level licence has been successfully implemented in their country.
4. Some regulators see little demand nationally for an entry level licence.
5. Support for the content of ECC Report 089 as guidance varies from being irrelevant for encouraging new entrants to adequate but can needs interpretation to reflect current practices and technology.