Columbia – New Certification Requirements

Colombia’s telecommunications regulator, Comision de Regulacion de Comunicaciones (CRC), recently issued Resolution CRC 5031 de 2016 which modifies the Capítulo I del Título XIII of Resolution CRT 087 of 1997. The new resolution requires all mobile phones, satellite-connected devices, and devices connected to the Public Switching Telephone Network (PSTN) to obtain formal homologation. All mobile terminal equipment operating in Colombian mobile bands (850 MHz, 1900 MHz, [AWS] 1700/2100 MHz, y/o 2500 MHz) will also be required to obtain type approval at CRC, thereby requiring applicable products, without voice function, to be subject to mandatory type approval. The new requirement is effective January 7, 2017, but is not retroactive; therefore devices with prior dispensation letters are excluded from the homologation process.