FCC vs ISED Canada: Cross-Border RF Safety in Practice
The General Public limits look similar — but the time-averaging windows, occupational definitions, and exclusion-zone conventions differ. A quick map for cross-border programs.
The same shape, different floors
FCC OET-65 and ISED Canada's Safety Code 6 follow similar curve shapes — both use frequency-dependent power-density limits with two tiers. But the exact values differ at points along the curve, and Canada's limits are tighter in some bands.
Time-averaging
FCC: 6 min (Occupational), 30 min (General Public). Safety Code 6: 6 min (Controlled), 6 min (Uncontrolled). That single difference can flip a borderline site from compliant to non-compliant when crossing the border.
What to deliver
For carriers operating in both countries, a single evaluation isn't enough. The FCC ↔ ISED comparator on my tools page shows the limit at any frequency under both regulators, side-by-side.
More from the archive
OET-65 in 60 Seconds: How the FCC MPE Limits Actually Work
A field-engineer's plain-English summary of the General Public and Occupational MPE limits, why they're frequency-dependent, and how time-averaging changes the answer.
2026.04.22EIRP vs ERP: What That 2.15 dB Actually Means
EIRP and ERP are the same number with two different reference antennas. Here's why the 2.15 dB conversion exists and when each one is the right metric to cite.
2026.04.18Demystifying Free-Space Path Loss
FSPL is the floor of every link budget and the first sanity check on any RF safety analysis. Here's the equation, the assumptions baked into it, and the cases where it lies.