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Planning to go for a camping trip. According to this document (in Norwegian but easy to understand), I can use a radio running PMR446 and KDR 444 freqs. Baofeng can do this.

The question is: is the Baofeng unit legal itself? And is it legal to take into the country?

I remember that some countries impose restrictions on taking your radios with you, and in some countries it's illegal to use a non-certified model. Also note that Norway is not in the European Union and has separate laws.

UPDATE AND DETAILS

One small detail: I do not hold CEPT or any other amateur license.

Thanks for the info and your answer SandPiper; it was exhaustive but I decided to dig a little bit more. I reached directly to the authorities and got this reply:

Dear Alexander,

Your radio, Baofeng UV-82 is a radio made for amateur radio usage only. It is not a radio made for use on frequencies where you need a licence from the authorities or general authorisations frequencies like PMR446 or KDR444.

PMR446 and KDR444 frequencies does have a general authorisation in Norway, but radios for use on these frequencies must be manufactured for this purpose. There are special rules/standards for these radios. Radios for use on PMR446 and KDR444 frequencies shall have a maximum output of 0,5W e.r.p. and shall have an integrated antenna. Increasing output power and use of external antenna must not be possible on such radios.

Baofeng UV-82 is only for use on Amateur radio frequencies and the user must hold an amateur radio licence.

I have attached an english unauthorized version of general authorisations for the use of radio frequencies in Norway. See chapter XIII for information regarding KDR444 and PMR446.

Best regards,

Tarjei Austegard
Senior Engineer
Spectrum Management Department
Norwegian Communications Authority
www.nkom.no

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There was a bit of a kerfuffle last year over this very topic here in the states. See: Did the FCC just make Baofengs Illegal? While that is ongoing, I wasn't able to find any literature on Norway banning the Baofeng radios.

However, even though they aren't part of the EU, they still require you to have a European Conference of Postal & Telecommunications Administrations (CEPT) radio-amateur license. This license:

allows US Amateurs to travel to and operate from most European countries without obtaining an additional license or permit. For a US citizens to operate an amateur station in a CEPT country, certain requirements of the CEPT European Radio Committee (ERC) must be met for participation by non-CEPT Administrations (the US is a Non-CEPT administration who has obtained permission to allow its licensees the privilege of operation from CEPT countries).

Under the CEPT Agreement, to activate operating authority, a traveler would have to carry credentials in English, French and German that the person, if a US citizen, and if a Commission-authorized amateur operator, is entitled to certain amateur station operating privileges in the specific countries that have implemented the CEPT Agreement.

Furthermore, digging further into the CEPT info, I found this on ARRL's operating permit page:

Norway (LA) · CEPT Radio Amateur License Recommendation T/R 61-01 allows US Amateur Extra and US Advanced class licensees to operate in European Union countries and their dependencies listed below under CEPT T/R 61-01. The qualified US Amateur must carry a copy of the FCC CEPT Public Notice DA 11-221 (dated February 7, 2011), your US passport and your original FCC-issued license (not a photocopy).

In other words, if you don't have an Extra/Advanced license, the whole question is moot because you won't be allowed to operate anyway. Further information found on the Norwegian Communications Authority visitor's page.

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  • $\begingroup$ Why Extra/Advanced specifically? Does Norway specifically or the EU ban traveling CEPT Novice hams from transmitting when abroad? Or is it a quirk of the US licencing system where you can't obtain the required internationally-accepted credentials unless your licence is of a sufficiently high qualification tier? (background: I know that Russia does permit both the full CEPT licencees and Novice licencees to operate freely when visiting; it's interesting to learn that it might not be this way everywhere.) $\endgroup$
    – Ivan R2AZR
    Apr 7, 2020 at 23:05
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For anyone interested, here is a reference to the regulations (links point to Norwegian):

§ 8. Permission to use and import radio equipment/Tillatelse til bruk og innførsel av radioutstyr

A licensed HAM radio operator is also permitted to introduce equipment covered by the first paragraph into Norway.

Innehaver av radioamatørlisens tillates også å innføre slikt utstyr som omfattes av første ledd til Norge.

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This just in from Bjorn Myrvold, LB7ZG, at NRRL:

Yes, you can bring your Baofeng UV82 transceiver and use it in Norway. Remember to use the prefix LA/.

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    $\begingroup$ If you have an appropriate ham radio license and callsign from a country that participates in the CEPT reciprocity system. Note that having a callsign isn't always enough (e.g. Canadian Advanced is the only level that qualifies for CEPT at the moment). $\endgroup$
    – Jim MacKenzie VE5EV
    Aug 14, 2019 at 22:11

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