Switzerland: Federal Court: towards a control of the emission values of mobile phone antennas

Federal Court: towards a control of the emission values of mobile phone antennas

ats / lenouvelliste.ch, 31 October 2019 - translation

TELECOMMUNICATIONS: The Federal Court considers that the Federal Office for the Environment should check the emission limit values of mobile telephone antennas.

The Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN) is invited to check that the emission limit values for mobile phone antennas are respected. The Federal Court thus draws the conclusions of an audit conducted in 2016 in Canton Schwyz.

The private company commissioned by Schwyz found that of the 14 antennas inspected, 8 did not comply with the heights and emission directions specified in the building permits. However, these parameters have an essential influence on the radiation emitted by mobile phone installations, as indicated in the judgment adopted on Thursday by the Neue Zürcher Zeitung.

The federal judges were called upon to decide the appeal of three residents of Romanshorn (TG) against the extension of a Sunrise antenna. However, if the latter have been rejected, the Federal Court notes that the quality assurance system (QS-System) set up to detect exceedances of the emission limit values could fail.

Reported exceedances

In order to comply with these limit values, operators must implement preventive, objective and verifiable measures or, according to a directive issued in 2006 by the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN), a Q-System that records the actual transmission powers and directions for all antennas every working day.

Any overruns are reported to the operator. The latter must remedy this within one day for remote-controlled installations or one week in other cases.

In its response to Romanshorn's opponents, the FOEN states that the Q-System also relies on the height and orientation of the antennas to calculate the power and direction of emission. If, as in Canton Schwyz, the actual heights and orientations do not correspond to the data in the building permit, the Federal Court considers that it cannot be excluded that the emissions calculated by the Q-System may be distorted.

The 1st Court of Public Law therefore orders the FOEN to check that the values of the Ordinance on Protection against Non-Ionizing Radiation (ORNI) are respected and to coordinate the action of the cantons. The Office is also requested to carry out a nationwide audit of the functioning of the Q-System.

For judges, these measures are all the more necessary since the last control in 2010-2011 was limited to computer-controlled parameters and Q-System databases. The Federal Court also specifies that this new sampling campaign must be supplemented by on-the-spot inspections of the installations. (judgment 1C_97/2018 of 3 September 2019)

ATS
https://www.lenouvelliste.ch/articles/suisse/tribunal-federal-vers-un-controle-des-valeurs-d-emission-des-antennes-de-telephonie-mobile-878673