Apple Refuses To Back Down After French Ban on iPhone 12 Sales

A day after France’s National Frequency Agency (ANFR) asked Apple to withdraw the iPhone 12 from the French market over radiation concerns, the tech giant is challenging the decision.

The ANFR recently tested 141 phones and found that the iPhone 12 exceeded France’s regulatory limits for radiation. Using a measurement called SAR (specific absorption rates), the agency determined that the iPhone 12 exposes the human body to electromagnetic waves higher than the European standard of 4 W/kg (the iPhone 12's waves came in at 5.74 W/kg, said the agency). According to the NIH, increased exposure to EMF radiation could be linked to increased cancer risk and other health complications, although there are few studies supporting this conclusion. 

The ANFR ordered Apple to stop selling the iPhone 12 in France. The agency also said it would send agents to retailers to ensure that the phone was no longer being sold. If Apple fails to act, the ANFR is prepared to recall all iPhone 12 phones currently being used in the country.

Apple defended the iPhone 12 on Wednesday, stating that the phone had been certified by multiple global radiation standards. Apple said in a statement sent to the ANFR that several in-house and third-party lab results showed that the phone complied with ANFR standards. The company announced that it would be contesting the agency’s findings and will continue to interact with the agency to establish compliance.

The ANFR’s SAR limits are already set ten times below the level where scientists found harmful effects, according to Professor Rodney Croft, the chair of the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP), which determines global SAR standards. 

"From a health and safety point of view, it is not as if this is putting anyone at risk," Croft told Reuters. 

The iPhone 12’s radiation levels could be fixed with a software update, says France. The country’s junior minister for the digital economy, Jean-Noël Barrot, said that Apple must fix the issue within two weeks or face the threat of an iPhone 12 recall.

“The rule is the same for everyone, including the digital giants,” Barrot told Le Parisien.

He warned that ANFR will distribute its findings to other European Union countries, creating a ripple effect of restrictions throughout Europe.  

"The procedure in France has a guiding function for Europe as a whole,” Germany's BNetzA network regulator told Reuters, stating that it could implement similar measures in Germany.