The policy on EMFs that applies in the rest of the UK also applies in Northern Ireland. Specifically, the Northern Ireland Executive were consulted in the preparation of the Written Ministerial Statement of 2009 that set out EMF policy, and the Executive then adopted the Codes of Practice that give force to the system of protection against EMFs for members of the public. See more on EMF policy in the Devolved Administrations.
In September 2015, Northern Ireland's Department of the Environment published a Strategic Planning Policy Statement. This covers EMFs on page 96:
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In relation to power lines current Government policy is that exposures to power-line Electro Magnet Fields (EMFs) should comply with the 1998 International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) Guidelines. A voluntary Code of Practice Power Lines: Control of Microshocks and other indirect effects of public exposure to electric fields A voluntary Code of Practice (DECC, July 2013) has been agreed by the Department of Energy and Climate Change, the Department of Health, the Energy Networks Association, the Welsh Government, the Scottish Government, and the Northern Ireland Executive. It sets out what is regarded as compliance with those aspects of the EMF exposure guidelines that relate to indirect effects as far as the electricity system is concerned. Further Government policies relating to EMFs from overhead power lines, advise that as a precautionary measure they should, where reasonable, have optimum phasing. This is the subject of a companion Code of Practice “Optimum phasing of high voltage double-circuit power lines”. This Code of Practice applies in England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland.
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Any proposal for the development of new power lines should comply with the 1998 International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP). Furthermore, such proposals will be considered having regard to potential impact on amenity and should avoid areas of landscape sensitivity, including Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs).
Comment by the authors of this site:
We quote the Statement in full above so that the words can speak for themselves. However, we also note:
- In the Written Ministerial Statement and in the Codes of Practice, the requirement is to comply with the 1998 ICNIRP Guidelines "in the terms of the 1999 EU Recommendation". That qualification has been missed out from the Planning Policy Statement. The main difference it makes relates to where the exposure limits apply. The ICNIRP Guidelines simply give the numerical values, but the EU Recommendation says that those values should apply, in essence, where the time of exposure is significant, a concept that was spelled out in the Code of Practice in terms of Use Class Orders.
- There are in fact three Codes of Practice. The Planning Policy Statement cites two of them. The missing one is arguably the most important: "Power Lines: Demonstrating compliance with EMF public exposure guidelines", which gives details of how the ICNIRP Guidelines are applied in practice.