In https://youtu.be/BH8DRyKUZDg?t=96 you can see FCC and CE certifications on the back of the box
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Itâs for modem and Wifi/Bluetooth module I think.They are already certified.
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Any news about FCC/CE certifications? Do the shipping/address confirmation emails still mention that they are working on that?
(they ignore this subject on the forum, but maybe theyâll provide some info on their monthly update, hopefully. if not⌠business as usual, I guess).
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In my shipping confirmation mail that came 11th of march (phone arrived today) had a checkbox if you wanted to postpone until the CE/FCC certification. Very little was stated and it looked like this:
Please help updating our records by letting us know if:
[ ] - The shipping address in this email is current, and no change is required
[ ] - The shipping address in this email is NOT current and I have now updated it
[ ] - order for accessories is placed
[ ] - hold your order until CE/FCC is available
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Thank you.
Perhaps someone can educate me on the Urgency on needing FCC certification. Aside from being a legal hoop that manufactures need to jump through to comply with Federal law, does the certification effect the actual use of the phone? Or is the user going to find themselves in legal trouble for using an uncertified phone? To me, this seems more of a manufacturer issue and not an end user issue. Am I wrong?
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Youâre not wrong but the perception is that the continued wait for this reflects badly on the manufacturing process, hindering a potential ramp up of unit availability.
If itâs not certified it cant be sold in large quantities, or so the rumors and general arguments go.
I have no idea what truth there is to it, just sharing what Iâve seen used elsewhere as reasoning. To me itâs mainly a strange point to ignore, and this mystery furthers above mentioned theories.
If the device was available to be purchased today and recieved within a month your take would be more prevalent imo
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When it comes to whether or not the use of an uncertified cell phone could get the user in trouble, the issue is more about wanting to be in compliance, than about the real life liklihood of consequences⌠in most cases.
If you put a linear amplifier on your CB radio, use your uncertified Chinese imported VHF transceiver radio on the Marine radio bands, or talk on the GMRS radio bands using a Ham radio, those actions are all very illegal. Will you get caught if you do any of those things without angering anyone? Probably not. Getting caught is very unlikely. But $10K to $30K fines for first time offenses are common. And the Federal government will put a lean on your house if they have to, to collect. And just like traffic laws, ignorance is no excuse.
Most technically inclined people know how this works. When I purchased my Boafeng radio from an online seller, I made the sale conditional on the FCC Part 90 sticker being affixed in the battery compartment, even after verifying Part 90 (business band) certification for the given model on the FCC website. Some radios come without the FCC compliance label (to circumvent import laws) and that can get the user in trouble also. For Ham radio, no FCC certification of the radio is required. All other devices that intentionally emit RF radiation require FCC compliance certification, and not just any compliance will do. The compliance certification has to be specific for the radio service you are using it in. So (for example) a certified Marine radio canât be used in non-Marine radio services such as GMRS or land-based business radio bands.
The average person often thinks âNon-compliance is no big deal. Iâll just claim that I didnât knowâ or âIâll never get caughtâ, or âI will blame the manufacturer if I get caughtâ. How bad could getting caught for such a small technicality be, and besides, how could they ever find out?
Understanding this, FCC compliance is very important to me. Some people really donât care. Usually, the FCC needs a good reason to get motivated to come after you. So there will most likely never be any consequences for non-compliance, unless they decide to come after you for some reason. In many cases, the perpetrator taunted the police on the police radio frequencies (using f-bombs and saying âha ha, you canât catch meâ) for several weeks, before someone said âenough is enoughâ and called the FCC. But because the fines are so high for first time offenses of more innocent offenses, I prefer a fully certified device. One guy used his brotherâs ham radio to save someoneâs life in an emergency. He had no ham radio license himself. He still had to pay the fine. Catching the violator is actually very easy once they decide to come after you.
The political implications and ramifications of the first modern non-Apple, non-Google completely free-d phone are yet to be known. Will anyone powerful ever try to find a method to stop its use? Who knows?
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In most cases FCC certification doesnât mean much, but if the phone exceeds the allowed levels of electromagnetic radiation, it could require that the phone be redesigned. I for one would not want to use a phone that exceeded the allowed limits. I also do worry about the amount of SARs.
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Iâve just searched on PINE64 forum for info about how they did with the certification. I found very interesting info:
( the discussions took place at the beginning of last year when certification was still underway)
âFor example, the FCC/CE testing alone costs $50k.â [link]
âAs Germany customs very strict on the FCC/CE certification for smartphone, hence, we apologize as the PinePhone for Germany batch will delayed until after Lunar New Year holiday as we are still waiting the FCC/CE certificate to release.â [link]
âIndeed, this is a last-minute decision that was made. It appears that German customs are particularly stringent when it comes to this, even if the phone is labeled as an engineering sample/ development unit. Letâs try not to make a big public thing out of it - not because this is something that needs to be kept secret from the community or âhushed upâ - but rather so we donât cause issues for users in other EU countries by too much exposure.â [link]
âMy Pinephone went through German customs fine (labelled as âgiftâ).â
[âŚ]
"Yes, a handful (think approx 50 units) were sent to test the ground for future shipments. " [link]
ADDED: >"Hi Sven, today i was at my local customs (Duesseldorf too). My pinephone is back on itâs way to china. The lack of CE marking is criticized. " [link]
Purism already have the FCC/CE marks applied on the box and on the phone in the battery compartment. Also they did/do ship phones with âdeveloper phoneâ on the custom declaration. EDIT: And I guess the customs are less suspicious for parcels sent from USA than from China/ HK.
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I forgot an important one:
"The CE certification is 80% complete. But⌠we need the cameras to work in software (and USB-C too IRRC) in order to complete the process. Having the cameras function in an OS may, however, take another few months. Nothing to be done about this sadly. " [link]
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I already think that the Librem 5 motherboard is very shielded and was wondering why donât we have the certifications yet. I know more now. Hope my pre-order will be certified.
That seems a pretty bizarre requirement? What does the camera working in software have to do with RF signals? Anyone know why this would be the case?
Probably because the software controls how the hardware is used and they are testing âliveâ hardware. And software can make hardware run âwildlyâ. The cameras and its hardware interfaces to the rest of the system use alternating electric currents at high frecvencies. Thatâs enough to emit RF.
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If thatâs the reasoning wouldnât you need to certify ever softeare update also?
donât give them ideas 
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Well that explains the mystery why the Librem 5 has not yet gotten the FCC certification. I wish that Purism had simply posted that, rather than letting us speculate for months about what was going on.
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I checked the box
hold your order until CE/FCC is available
I received my Librem 5 in France on February 3, 2021
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Did they confirm that your phone is certified? Did you find a Declaration of Conformity in the box (EDIT: that might be optional to be included)?
They put those FCC/CE marks everywhere since a few months ago, but they still ask (as of March 11, see above) ask in emails if you want " hold your order until FCC/CE is available". And they never announced yet that they completed the certifications. I think you received it by mistake.
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Purism still hasnât applied for FCC certification according to the FCC web site. Companies in a hurry can do the testing in 4-6 weeks and then the application to the FCC should take 1-2 weeks. If the holdup was the cameras, then hopefully Purism can now send in the L5 for testing.
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