Industry Canada Calls for Public Consultation to Establish Rules for Certifying BPL in Canada

Industry Canada (IC), with Canada Gazette notice SMSE-005-05 dated July 30 2005, has initiated the public consultation process for the introduction of BPL in Canada. This consultation will decide the process by which BPL will be introduced in Canada, including the development of a new certification standard (ICES-00x) for medium voltage powerline carrier systems. The IC consultation paper gives interested parties 120 days to reply.

RAC will reply to this consultation paper directly to IC and through the Radio Advisory Board of Canada (RABC), of which it is a member. The RABC is an association of Canadian radio spectrum user associations, sponsored in part by IC, and used by IC to consult with industry when developing new standards and spectrum management policy. The consultation paper will be handled by RABC's Electromagnetic Committee (EMC), which has appointed RAC's VP Regulatory Affairs, Jim Dean VE3IQ, a member of the RABC Executive, as chairperson of a Working Group (WG) to prepare the RABC's response. Joe Parkinson VE3JG, who has been handling the BPL file, will represent RAC on the WG.

RAC is not against BPL; it is against the interference to radio services created by BPL, and looks forward to this consultation process as an opportunity to have an input into the certification standard. RAC's representative on the RABC WG will aggressively push to ensure the concerns of the Amateur Service are addressed in the RABC response. RAC will also express these concerns in a response directly to IC.

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