The radio-frequency limits on your phone were set in 1996
The numbers that decide whether a phone can be sold, or a cell site switched on, in the United States come from one FCC order, FCC 96-326, adopted on August 1, 1996. The agency reviewed those limits from 2013 to 2019 and kept them. In 2021 a federal appeals court sent part of that decision back for a better explanation. When we last checked, on November 9, 2026, the FCC still had not given one.
This site goes through the primary documents behind those limits in plain English, page numbers included.
Where the 1996 numbers came from
Congress forced the timing. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 told the FCC to "prescribe and make effective rules regarding the environmental effects of radio frequency emissions" within 180 days, as the D.C. Circuit later summarized it. The FCC met that deadline with the 1996 Report and Order in ET Docket 93-62, which took effect on August 6, 1996.
The FCC does not write exposure science itself. In the order it said the new guidelines were "based substantially on the recommendations" of the EPA, the FDA and other federal health and safety agencies. The power-density limits follow NCRP Report No. 86, published in 1986 by the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements. The SAR limits for devices used close to the body draw on ANSI/IEEE C95.1-1992 as well as the NCRP report. By the FCC's own account, it had first adopted public and worker limits in 1985, so 1996 was an update.
The FCC says its limits sit well below the levels that lab studies have shown can heat body tissue enough to cause harm. The D.C. Circuit described the limits as designed to protect against "thermal effects" but not "non-thermal" ones, and in a September 2026 court filing the FCC used similar words about its own rules.
The numbers that still apply
- 1.6 W/kg
- Peak SAR limit for the general public, averaged over any 1 gram of tissue (head and body)
- 4 W/kg
- Limit for hands, wrists, feet, ankles and outer ears, averaged over 10 grams
- 0.08 W/kg
- Whole-body average limit
- 30 min
- Longest averaging time allowed for public exposure
Source: 47 CFR 1.1310, text in force November 2026.
SAR, or specific absorption rate, measures how much radio-frequency power the body absorbs per kilogram. It applies from 100 kHz to 6 GHz. Above 6 GHz, and for antennas farther from the body, the rule switches to power density in the air: 1.0 mW/cm² for the public from 1.5 GHz up to 100 GHz. For phones and other devices used close to the body, the FCC enforces the localized SAR limit, which is the 1.6 W/kg figure.
Who has challenged the limits, and when
| Date | Document | What happened |
|---|---|---|
| Aug 1, 1996 | FCC 96-326 | Current limits adopted, based on NCRP 1986 and ANSI/IEEE C95.1-1992 |
| Aug 25, 1997 | FCC 97-303 | FCC affirmed the 1996 order on reconsideration |
| 2000 and 2004 | Second Circuit; D.C. Circuit | Challenges to the limits rejected |
| July 2012 | GAO-12-771 | GAO recommended the FCC formally reassess its limit |
| Mar 29, 2013 | FCC 13-39 | FCC opened an inquiry asking if limits should be stricter, looser or the same |
| Dec 4, 2019 | FCC 19-126 | Inquiry closed, limits kept, exemption rules rewritten |
| Aug 13, 2021 | No. 20-1025, D.C. Cir. | Order upheld on cancer, remanded on non-cancer effects, children, testing and environment |
| May 18, 2026 | No. 26-1121, D.C. Cir. | Petition asking the court to order the FCC to answer within 90 days |
| Sept 17, 2026 | DA 26-997 | FCC public notice reopened comment on the remand issues |
The 2013 inquiry drew more than 1,000 comments and ex parte filings. The FCC's 2019 order found "no appropriate basis" to propose changes and leaned on FDA statements that the evidence did not show harm at or below the limits.
Where the 2021 remand stands
In Environmental Health Trust v. FCC, a 2-1 panel held that the FCC had given a reasoned answer on cancer but not on other health effects. The court did not vacate the order and did not set new limits, so the 1996 numbers stayed in force.
On September 17, 2026, with a mandamus petition pending against it, the FCC's engineering office issued a public notice asking for comment on the three remanded issues, due October 22. Eight days later the FCC told the court that five years had passed since the remand, and that it would need "a minimum of nine months" after the comment deadline to adopt an explanation. Our search on November 9, 2026 turned up no ruling on the petition and no FCC order answering the remand.
What you will find here
Three longer pieces go through the documents. One covers what the D.C. Circuit decided and what it left alone. Another sets the FCC limits beside the 2020 ICNIRP guidelines and Canada's Safety Code 6, with the arithmetic at four real frequencies. The third covers what the 2019 order changed and what the FDA's role was.
People do different things with this material. Some file comments in ET Docket 13-84. Others buy products such as phone stickers from a shop like EMFCALM. We don't test or rate products. Our subject is the rulebook, and the rulebook in November 2026 is still the one written in 1996.
The 1996 Limit reads the FCC orders, court opinions and standards documents behind US radio-frequency exposure rules and explains them in plain English. It is not run by a government agency, a carrier or a law firm, and nothing here is legal advice.