GCC: New regulation for AM/FM/T-DAB+ in vehicles

 

The six members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (United Arab Emirates, Kingdom of Bahrain, the State of Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Yemen) have published a new regulation for AM/FM/T-DAB+ in vehicles.

So far, this topic has been regulated only in two of the GCC members – now, more harmonization is brought to the GCC.

The name of the regulation is GCC Technical Regulation for Terrestrial Radio Receiver Specifications for AM/FM/T-DAB+, and it is mostly based on the one applicable so far in the united Arab Emirates.

The standard describes the specification of devices, which can receive terrestrially transmitted AM, FM and T-DAB+ radio services.

It covers all types of receivers, including home receivers, portable receivers, and vehicle receivers. It applies to all producers, manufacturers, importers, and retailers who wish to sell radio receivers and all other products which have built-in radio receivers in the GCC countries.

The specification shall be used to assess the eligibility of a product for use in the GCC countries.

Regarding the minimum requirements for receivers sold in the GCC Region, they shall meet the requirements of ETSI TS 103 461(V1.2.1), but with three important exceptions:

• All receivers are required to display DAB+ labels in Arabic and English text.
• All receivers are required to provide DAB+ reception to the requirements of the latest version of ETSI TS 103 461, as summarized in Annex (1). In case of any discrepancy the latest version of ETSI TS 103 461 prevail over the annex.
• All receivers are required to provide (AM and FM) reception to the requirements stated in Annex (2).

As far as automotive receivers are concerned:

All Automotive digital radio receivers shall be able to receive terrestrial transmitted AM, FM and T-DAB+ sound broadcasting services and shall comply with the technical requirements mentioned at Annex (1) and (2). The AM receivers shall comply with AM Type A specification.

Except Battery Electric Vehicles (BEV) and Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEV), AM receivers are an optional feature, and all AM receivers shall comply with AM type A specification mentioned at Annex (B) “.

The proposed date of adoption is still be determined.

To find out more about automotive regulations in GCC, please do not hesitate to contact the Institute for Global Automotive Regulatory Research Directly.