IARU’s Spectrum and Regulatory Liaison Committee (SRLC) is a forum comprising individual experts who work for IARU in Region 1’s (Africa, Europe, Middle East and Commonwealth of Independent States) regulatory and standards organisations. 

Individually and collectively these experts establish the policy and strategic direction that IARU Region 1 should take in the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and in Region 1, Regional and Sub-Regional Telecommunication Organisations (RTOs) e.g. ASMG (Arab Spectrum Management Group), ATU (African Telecommunication Union), CEPT (Conférence Européenne des administrations des Postes et Télécommunications) and RCC (Regional Commonwealth in the field of Communications) on matters of importance to the interests of the amateur services (e.g. spectrum management, licensing and spectrum engineering).

An important area of work involves the support of CEPT and the European Communications Office (ECO) on matters relating to the CEPT Radio Amateur Licence, the CEPT Novice Licence and if so decided a CEPT Entry Level Licence. All CEPT licences require holders to have an appropriate level of competence in regulatory and technical issues resulting from amateur service activities e.g. the Harmonised Amateur Radio Examination Certificate (HAREC). A common level of competence facilitates the free movement of radio amateurs engaged in tourism and also provides a mechanism to obtain a national amateur licence when radio amateurs become resident in another territory, which is a signatory to the pertinent regulations and reports of the CEPT. This SRLC licensing activity is managed by IARU Region 1’s Regulatory Affairs Coordinator, whose terms of reference can be found here.

SRLC also liaises with the Electro Magnetic Compatibility Committee (EMCC) concerning relevant issues raised in CEPT by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) and European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (CENELEC), including any proposals to amend ETSI EN 301 783, the European standard for commercial amateur radio equipment.

In addition members of the SRLC work with other IARU permanent Committees (PRC, EMCC, HF (including MF and LF) Committee and the VHF and Microwave Committee to identify potential threats to the amateur services from regulatory pressures and develops with the PRC and other relevant permanent bodies, strategies and their implementation to ensure that such threats are managed in a way that limits any adverse impact on the amateur services.

A glossary of regulatory terms which may be found in SRLC texts can be found here.