Summary of exposure limits across the world

This page summarises the ELF EMF public exposure limits in force in all the countries across the world that we are aware of.  We also have a detailed listing of the limits in force in each of these countries - this page gives a summary.  We give the 50 or 60 Hz limit only.  There are lots of qualifications - see end of page.

We categorise the limits in different countries by how they compare to the 1998 ICNIRP limits.

Countries we know do not have ELF limits:

Bosnia Herzovogina
Canada
New Zealand
Peru
Phillippines
Spain
Turkey

For all other countries we are not aware of any limits but do not know for certain.

The USA does not have Federal public limits but several individual states do, listed here.

Notes

[1] Some countries use the ICNIRP reference levels as limits.  If we know this is the case, we list them in the next category.  If we know the country uses the basic restrictions, or if we don't know either way, we list them simply as "ICNIRP".

[2] There are all sorts of gradations as to how rigorously limits are applied, and just because they may be a legal requirement doesn't mean it is necessarilly enforced.  But where we know that the policy is voluntary we list them separately here.

[3] In some countries, power lines run along a Right of Way (ROW) where the power company control the use of the land.  Because the field from a power line falls with distance, a limit of say 20 µT at the edge of the ROW may be equivalent to the ICNIRP limits directly under the power line.

[4] Some of the countries listed in this category do have numerical values included in their policy, but the difference is that the value is not a limit.  We know this distinction is not always clear cut!  More on precautionary policies.

General notes:

For many countries there is ambiguity and sometimes we have been told different versions by different people.  In some countries the limit is an exposure limit applying to the exposure of a person regardless of the source and in some countries it is an emission limit applying to a particular source such as a power line.  Some limits apply only to residential areas or where exposure is for a significant period of time.  Some countries have policies on development near power lines and it is not always clear if this is for EMF reasons or not.  We try to capture all these factors when we know about them but our information is almost certainly not comprehensive.

If you have any better information on any countries, we would love to hear from you!