Legislation in Europe

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cmavr8

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Hi all! I'd like to ask whether scanners are legal in Europe or not. Due to local laws etc, a per-country answer should be given when possible.

I'm mainly interested in the Netherlands and maybe Germany. I'm not interested in listening to police frequencies or phone commnications etc. I'm just asking if having a scanner is legal.

Also, I know about Greece. Scanners used to be prohibited from 2006 to 2012, but are not any more. Listenting to police frequencies IS still prohibited and in general it is advised to have the scanner disassembled when police controls are possible.

Thanks
 

MtnBiker2005

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Anyone know about radio scanner law in Budapest / Hungary?
Getting off the riverboat, and staying few days before flying back to Heathrow airport.

I will be floating by germany, so I'm safe in that area :)

Guess I'm good in Amsterdam, Netherlands per #2 post above.
 

Vince64

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In France, regulation is fairly simple.

To make it shortly, the R226 law says that any RF device that can "update/discover", even furtive signal, has to submit to the law.

So for the seller, he must have a license for importing, saling, exhibiting, renting, quoting. (one license per item).

For the buyer, it must have an authorization to purchase, hold and use.

Although many French seller does not comply with this law on the grounds of the free movement of electronics devices at European level, and the buyers do the same, also they are justifying as being amateur-radio or listener. But the law remains applicable.

So it all depends on the performance of the receiver.
So more details better to contact the official representative agent.
 

Your_account

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In theorie everyone in FR could buy Radio Stuff from Germany.
 

Vince64

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In theorie everyone in FR could buy Radio Stuff from Germany.

In theorie, physicaly everyone can drive a car without having a driving licence.....but if the police....

Its up to you to play with customs and regulations.
It is like playing with ITAR regulation in US.

As we use to say in France: Not seen, not caught. Caught, hanged....
 

paulears

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For some while now, all emergency service radio has been encrypted, so Police, Ambulance and Fire comms are not listenable to. As a result, nobody is that bothered by scanner users.
 

Your_account

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For some while now, all emergency service radio has been encrypted
Maybe in UK but here a lot of service run Analog or Unencrypted like: Pager, Voice Pager, Hospital Pager, Dispatch for different Ambulance Car Company.
In Germany the Police and other dont (want to ) use Tetra because the try to save Money and have an worst Coverage.
Its up to you to play with customs and regulations.
Does the FR Costom check any Package who get shipped from the EU? Maybe some Dogs search for Drugs or so.
As we use to say in France: Not seen, not caught. Caught, hanged....
I know many things go bet this days... Marseilles...
When I travel to Fr and the Police search me and the find my Professional Radio what the do?
Normaly in Austria and Germany the dont know that it is or the thing is a Toy Radio *gg*.
 

paulears

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The Police wouldn't know a 'toy' Motorola from a digital, clever, expensive Motorola. They're just radios.

In most countries, the authorities have to decide if what you have matches your explanation. behaving strangely, and having a concealed radio can be troublesome nowadays. As with everything, having paperwork works really well. Being polite and nice works wonders. Banging on about rights and being awkward gets you arrested, and then released later. Which is better?
 

Valeriy

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Hi all! I'd like to ask whether scanners are legal in Europe or not. Due to local laws etc, a per-country answer should be given when possible.

In Italy it is legal to own and operate a scanner, and since 2001 there is no longer the need for an SWL License.
Regards.
 

jasejoSK

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In Slovakia, no license needed for scanners.
Listening to unencoded analog networks is allowed, but the law states that you can't handle recieved information form transmissions to anyone else unless you're registered user of the network you are listening to.
Decoding and decrypting is officialy prohibited.
 
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Ubbe

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In Sweden all monitoring and also attempts to decode encrypted signals is legal as long as it isn't a pay-per-view kind of service. You are allowed to own and use radios at any frequency as long as you do not use the transmit button, with a couple of exceptions. You are not allowed to disclose what you have heard on frequencies not intended for the public. I.E. no audio streaming allowed.

There's no official frequency database from the FCC authorities to look up frequencies and you have to ask them for any info of a specific frequency and that often include a service fee to keep people from harrasing them with questions. The organisation are fully financed from tax money and the low fees of frequency licenses, usually $100-$200 annually per frequency for non commercial use. Commercial cellular frequency blocks are auctioned and costs millions for 5-10 years. The same for FM broadcasts frequencies. Any frequency license holder can request to keep the frequency secret so that the FCC do not give out any information about it, not even info about if the frequency is in use or not.

You are not allowed to own or use a radar/laserdetectors intedended to warn about speedtraps. You are allowed to use GPS position devices in a vehicle that warn about fixed speed traps, but those must anyhow also be announced by big warnings signs at the side of the road that tells you how far it is to the speed trap so that you have plenty of time to slow down.

You cannot import/own/use any kind of interference transmitters that are designed to block out any radio frequency.

/Ubbe
 

RFI-EMI-GUY

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In Sweden all monitoring and also attempts to decode encrypted signals is legal as long as it isn't a pay-per-view kind of service. You are allowed to own and use radios at any frequency as long as you do not use the transmit button, with a couple of exceptions. You are not allowed to disclose what you have heard on frequencies not intended for the public. I.E. no audio streaming allowed.

There's no official frequency database from the FCC authorities to look up frequencies and you have to ask them for any info of a specific frequency and that often include a service fee to keep people from harrasing them with questions. The organisation are fully financed from tax money and the low fees of frequency licenses, usually $100-$200 annually per frequency for non commercial use. Commercial cellular frequency blocks are auctioned and costs millions for 5-10 years. The same for FM broadcasts frequencies. Any frequency license holder can request to keep the frequency secret so that the FCC do not give out any information about it, not even info about if the frequency is in use or not.

You are not allowed to own or use a radar/laserdetectors intedended to warn about speedtraps. You are allowed to use GPS position devices in a vehicle that warn about fixed speed traps, but those must anyhow also be announced by big warnings signs at the side of the road that tells you how far it is to the speed trap so that you have plenty of time to slow down.

You cannot import/own/use any kind of interference transmitters that are designed to block out any radio frequency.

/Ubbe

What sort of Citizens Band operations are permitted? Do you have 27MHz? What modes? How about UHF or VHF, can a citizen operate a repeater like US GMRS?
 

vagrant

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This would be a good for a Wiki listing various countries and a Yes, No, or conditional.
 
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