News - January 2004

About the plans.
Presently, there is a communications bill before parliament, which suggests changes to CB radio and the management of the radio spectrum.
Planned changes include:
  Changes to frequency allocations.
  Changes to licensing.
  Changes to controlling body.

Change of controlling body.
In December 2003, control of the radio frequency spectrum changed hands from the Radiocommunications Agency to Ofcom. All CB related rules, laws, and enforcement are now dealt with by Ofcom. At this time, the rules remain the same. Whether there will be any change in the way enforcement is enacted remains to be seen.

Removal of old band.
Before Ofcom took over control, the RA had plans to remove the use of the old UK only band. This was to be done by first removing the specification, so no new sets would be made, then making existing sets illegal to use. It was planned that the band would be removed by 2010.

Ofcom have now taken over control, and no new information seems to be available. It is possible that any planned dates may be put back as Ofcom may need to settle in and get used to all the new tasks it covers.

Removal of old licensing requirement.
The RA also had plans to remove the requirement for CB users to obtain a licence.
A few years back, the licences were removed from Post Offices as the cost of administration was too high. Since then, licensing has been dealt with by SSL, who are still part of the Post Office.
With the reducing licence figures, the RA considered that the costs could soon be higher than the revenue from the sales.
Although the new directive was set to come into force on July 25th 2003 and the RA document outlining the details seemed to suggest that new licences would not be issued after that date, nothing new has been heard and licence fees have continued to be charged - with reminders being sent out to existing licence holders.

Further information.
Information about this change, along with the full document, can be obtained from Ofcom.