The Apple iPhone 12, released in 2020, will no longer be able to be sold in France because it exceeds limit values for electromagnetic waves emitted and absorbed by the human body, according to the French national radio frequencies agency, ANFR.
The authority is also asking Apple to “implement all available means to quickly remedy this malfunction” on copies already sold, or risk having to recall them, it said in a statement sent to French news agency AFP on Tuesday evening.
“I have confidence in the company’s sense of responsibility to comply with our rules," French Minister for Digital Transition Jean-Noël Barrot said in an interview with Le Parisien. "My mission is to make sure it respects them. If it fails to do so, I am ready to order the recall of the iPhone 12s in circulation."
Barrot said making the smartphone compliant “involves a simple software update.” Apple has 15 days to comply.
In concrete terms, the iPhone 12 exceeds by 1.74 W per kilogramme the regulatory limit value corresponding to the energy that can be absorbed by the human body when the phone is held in the hand.
The ANFR regularly has the emission power of smartphones lowered. Most of the time, following a formal notice, manufacturers update their devices to avoid their withdrawal from the market, but this is a first for Apple.
According to Jean-Noël Barrot, the withdrawal request could even be extended to the European market.
Despite extensive research, there is no evidence that exposure to low-level electromagnetic fields is harmful to human health, according to the World Health Organisation, WHO.
