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> Is there any other industry where the client is responsible for making sure the service or product is legal and not the producer? Pretty much all of them? Le

> Is there any other industry where the client is responsible for making sure the service or product is legal and not the producer? Pretty much all of them? Let's say you buy a humble walkie-talkie. It is your responsibility to operate it in regions where the specific RF bands it uses are legal.

V__ 4y ago
And you as a customer are clearly informed about such limitations. No walkie-talkie would advertise themselves as free to use anywhere. Also, no walkie-talkie sold which by design uses the wrong frequencies would be allowed and would make the user liable and not the producer.
PeterisP 4y ago
No, that's not true, if you buy a walkie-talkie, the seller has all kinds of obligations to ensure that it follows the requirements. Radio devices are a good example where it fact is illegal to make, sell or import transmitters that do not conform to permitted RF bands. IIRC in USA there is an exemption in FCC rules if you're importing a device for personal use by e.g. buying it online from abroad (and then you're responsible to use it properly), but if you'd want to resell that device, you can't just transfer the liability to the user, you are responsible for ensuring that the transmitter follows FCC rules.
- trasz 4y ago
  Not true - you can easily buy unlocked Baofeng radios in EU and nobody cares. FCC cared because American manufacturers couldn’t really compete on market terms.
  - PeterisP 4y ago
    The fact that nobody cares is a lack of enforcement (and exemptions for import for personal use) due to low priority, but it does not mean that it is legal to sell unlocked/unrestricted walkie-talkies in EU - it is not, at least not in all EU countries. For example, last year there was an explicit prohibition on sales of Baofeng UV-5R in Germany (https://www.bnetza-amtsblatt.de/download/72 https://www.bnetza-amtsblatt.de/download/72) and Poland and probably other countries due to out of band emissions causing radio interference.

V__ 4y ago

And you as a customer are clearly informed about such limitations. No walkie-talkie would advertise themselves as free to use anywhere. Also, no walkie-talkie sold which by design uses the wrong frequencies would be allowed and would make the user liable and not the producer.

PeterisP 4y ago

No, that's not true, if you buy a walkie-talkie, the seller has all kinds of obligations to ensure that it follows the requirements. Radio devices are a good example where it fact is illegal to make, sell or import transmitters that do not conform to permitted RF bands. IIRC in USA there is an exemption in FCC rules if you're importing a device for personal use by e.g. buying it online from abroad (and then you're responsible to use it properly), but if you'd want to resell that device, you can't just transfer the liability to the user, you are responsible for ensuring that the transmitter follows FCC rules.

trasz 4y ago
Not true - you can easily buy unlocked Baofeng radios in EU and nobody cares. FCC cared because American manufacturers couldn’t really compete on market terms.
- PeterisP 4y ago
  The fact that nobody cares is a lack of enforcement (and exemptions for import for personal use) due to low priority, but it does not mean that it is legal to sell unlocked/unrestricted walkie-talkies in EU - it is not, at least not in all EU countries. For example, last year there was an explicit prohibition on sales of Baofeng UV-5R in Germany (https://www.bnetza-amtsblatt.de/download/72 https://www.bnetza-amtsblatt.de/download/72) and Poland and probably other countries due to out of band emissions causing radio interference.