S Korea acts against Huawei, Samsung for false equipment records

Under South Korea's radio wave law, communications equipment needs to undergo conformity assessments that check their impact on other equipment and the human body, to manufacture, sell or import them.

Seoul, June 18 (IANS) South Korea’s ICT ministry said it has revoked conformity assessments on around 1,700 pieces of communications equipment from nearly 400 companies, including Huawei Technologies and tech giant Samsung Electronics, after they submitted falsified test records.

Under South Korea’s radio wave law, communications equipment needs to undergo conformity assessments that check their impact on other equipment and the human body, to manufacture, sell or import them.

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The Ministry of Science and ICT said it canceled assessments on 1,696 pieces of equipment from 378 companies as they were based on falsified test records.

The equipment will be withdrawn from distribution channels and the companies will also be barred from receiving new conformity assessments for the equipment in question for one year, reports Yonhap news agency.

The cancellation marks the first for the ministry and comes after an investigation last year that detected the falsified test records.

The ministry said that companies had submitted test reports that appeared to have been issued by the US office of the global testing and certification organisation Bay Area Compliance Laboratories (BACL) but were, in fact, from its Chinese offices.

While South Korea acknowledges test results from the US-based BACL through an agreement with the US, it does not recognise tests by the organisation’s Chinese offices.

The ministry said that while companies argued they were not involved in the fabrication process of the test records, the equipment was still up for cancellation regardless of their intent under the radio wave law.

Chinese closed circuit TV camera maker Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Tech Co. was the top offender with false records on 224 pieces of equipment, followed by Chinese dronemaker SZ DJI Technology Co. at 145 and Huawei at 136, according to the ministry.

Samsung Electronics placed 10th with 23 false records on equipment, such as wireless speakers.