Does an FCC ID give me the right to sell in Canada?

No. An FCC ID authorises a product for the United States only. Canada requires its own ISED authorisation, which yields an IC number and a Radio Equipment List (REL) entry. The two regimes share test data under the Canada-US Mutual Recognition Arrangement, but the grants are separate filings and a product missing the REL entry cannot be placed on the Canadian market.

Can one test campaign cover both ISED and FCC?

Largely yes for the measurements. Under the MRA, a laboratory accredited on one side produces a report the other side accepts, so radio emissions and RF exposure data are reused. You still file two dossiers (one to a TCB, one to an ISED-recognised Certification Body) and the test plan must cover the union of bands operated in both countries.

What is the equivalent of the FCC TCB in Canada?

The ISED-recognised Certification Body (CB). It plays the same role as the FCC Telecommunication Certification Body: it reviews the dossier, checks the test report against the applicable standards, and issues the authorisation. Many North American organisations hold both an FCC TCB accreditation and an ISED CB recognition, so a single firm can handle both filings.

Is RSS-102 the same as FCC OET Bulletin 65?

They are close functional equivalents for RF exposure (MPE and SAR), with the US 1.6 W/kg over 1 g of tissue limit broadly matched in Canada. The procedures, the SAR exemption tables and the report format differ in detail. An MRA-capable laboratory typically derives both reports from a single measurement campaign by post-processing the data into each framework.

Does the FCC require SDoC while ISED always requires a CB?

Roughly. The FCC offers two paths: SDoC (a self-declaration, mainly for unintentional radiators under Part 15 Subpart B) and Certification (a TCB grant for intentional radiators). ISED has no SDoC equivalent for radio apparatus: every intentional emitter goes through a CB. The non-radio digital portion is handled by ICES-003, which is declared rather than CB-certified.

Do I label with both the FCC ID and the IC number?

For a product sold in both markets, yes. The FCC ID and the IC identifier may share a single label provided each is clearly separated and legible. The two regimes also impose their own user-notice wording, and Canada requires bilingual French and English text, so the statements are not interchangeable even though the layout can be combined.

Which databases prove the authorisations?

The FCC Equipment Authorization System (EAS) holds the FCC ID, grant, test report and photos. ISED publishes the Radio Equipment List (REL), searchable by IC identifier, manufacturer or model. Each authority checks its own database at the border, so an FCC EAS entry does not satisfy a Canadian customs check and a REL entry does not satisfy a US one.

Is the marginal cost of adding ISED to an FCC programme high?

Usually no. Because the MRA lets the same laboratory report serve both, the radio and RF exposure measurements are roughly reused, and the extra ISED work reduces to a cover letter, an ICES-003 report, label and bilingual manual adaptation, and the CB review queue. The incremental calendar impact is commonly a few weeks rather than a fresh full campaign.

ISED vs FCC: which radio authorisation?

Author Hugues Orgitello Last updated 30 May 2026 ~10 min read

Guide, ISED vs FCC

For a radio product crossing the North American border, the United States and Canada feel like one market with two paperwork stacks. The FCC and ISED Canada share a common engineering heritage and a mutual recognition arrangement that lets a single laboratory report serve both. Yet the authorisations are separate filings, the identifiers differ, the exposure rules carry their own report formats, and Canada adds a bilingual labelling layer. This guide puts the two regimes side by side: a decision table first, then each axis explained, and finally a clear answer to the question every project hits, which authorisation do you actually need.

Decision table: ISED vs FCC at a glance

The fastest way to scope a dual programme is to read the two regimes on the same row. The table below maps each axis; the sections that follow explain the rows that matter most.

Axis	FCC (United States)	ISED (Canada)
Authority	Federal Communications Commission	Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada
Radio rulebook	47 CFR Part 15, 22, 24, 27, 90	RSS-Gen, RSS-247, RSS-130/132/133/139, RSS-210
Non-radio EMC	Part 15 Subpart B (Class A / B)	ICES-003 (Class A / B)
RF exposure	OET Bulletin 65, KDB 447498 (SAR 1 g)	RSS-102 (aligned SAR, own procedures)
Self-declaration path	SDoC for unintentional radiators	None for radio; ICES-003 declared
Third-party path	Certification via a TCB	Certification via an ISED-recognised CB
Identifier	FCC ID (Grantee Code + Product Code)	IC: Company Code + Product Code
Public database	Equipment Authorization System (EAS)	Radio Equipment List (REL)
MRA recognition	Accepts ISED-accredited lab reports	Accepts FCC-accredited lab reports
Foreign-party requirement	US Agent for Service of Process	Canadian Representative (Category I)
Post-grant change	Class II Permissive Change	Equivalent filing with original CB
Label language	English	French and English (bilingual)

None of these rows lets you merge the two grants. The MRA shares laboratory data, not certificates. A product needs both a live FCC authorisation and a live ISED authorisation to ship into both countries.

Authorities and the legal architecture

FCC: rules written into the CFR

The Federal Communications Commission writes its technical requirements directly into Title 47 of the Code of Federal Regulations. There is no delegation to an external standards body for the limits themselves: 47 CFR Part 15 carries the unlicensed and unintentional-radiator rules, while Parts 22, 24 and 27 carry the licensed cellular bands. The methodology references IEEE-published standards, ANSI C63.4 for digital devices and ANSI C63.10 for unlicensed radios. See the FCC pillar for the full scope.

ISED: the RSS and ICES families

Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada succeeded Industry Canada in 2015, retaining the historic "IC" prefix on identifiers. ISED structures its requirements into two normative families: RSS (Radio Standards Specifications) for intentional emitters and ICES (Interference-Causing Equipment Standards) for unintentional emitters. RSS-Gen is the umbrella standard for administrative, labelling and report-format rules; band-specific RSS standards sit beneath it. Full detail is in the ISED Canada guide.

Practical consequence

Both regimes share the same goal, keeping equipment from disturbing the spectrum, but a US engineer reading a CFR section number will not find a one-to-one Canadian clause. The mapping is functional, not textual: Part 15 Subpart C corresponds to RSS-247, Part 15 Subpart B corresponds to ICES-003, OET 65 corresponds to RSS-102. The standards numbers, the report templates and the marking text all differ.

Equipment authorisation: SDoC and Certification

The single largest structural difference is the self-declaration option.

FCC: two procedures

Under 47 CFR Part 2 Subpart J the FCC offers two paths:

SDoC (Supplier's Declaration of Conformity): a self-declaration the responsible party signs after testing, used mainly for unintentional radiators under Part 15 Subpart B. No federal identifier is issued and no third party reviews the dossier.
Certification: a third-party procedure where a TCB reviews the test report and issues an FCC ID. This is mandatory for intentional radiators (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, cellular and similar transmitters).

The mechanics of the Grantee Code, FCC ID structure and TCB review are covered in FCC ID, Grantee Code and TCB.

ISED: certification for all radio

ISED has no SDoC equivalent for radio apparatus. Every intentional emitter, licensed (Category I) or licence-exempt (Category II), goes through an ISED-recognised Certification Body. Category I yields a Technical Acceptance Certificate; Category II yields a Declaration of Conformity produced by the CB. Both result in an IC identifier and a REL entry.

The non-radio digital portion is the exception: ICES-003 compliance is declared by the manufacturer rather than CB-certified, mirroring the FCC SDoC logic for the unintentional-radiator side.

Side-by-side

Device type	FCC route	ISED route
Digital device, no radio	SDoC (Part 15 Subpart B)	ICES-003 declaration
Wi-Fi / BLE module	Certification, FCC ID via TCB	Certification, IC via CB (Cat. II)
Cellular device	Certification, FCC ID via TCB	Certification, IC via CB (Cat. I)

The asymmetry matters for budgeting: a purely digital product can self-declare on both sides, but the moment a transmitter is on board, the FCC SDoC option disappears and both regimes require third-party review.

Identifiers and the certification body

FCC ID

An FCC ID joins two parts: the Grantee Code (the first three to five characters, unique to the company, assigned through the Equipment Authorization System) and the Equipment Product Code (chosen by the grantee). The full ID appears on the device label or as an e-label and is searchable in the EAS.

IC identifier

An ISED identifier reads "IC: Company Number + Product Code". The Company Number is five characters for newly assigned codes (for example 20001); some legacy codes are shorter and may carry a trailing letter (for example 21A). It is allocated once per manufacturer; the Product Code is defined by the manufacturer and must be unique within the Company Number. The format and history predate the 2015 ISED rename, hence the retained "IC" prefix.

The certifying body

The FCC delegates routine grants to accredited Telecommunication Certification Bodies; the agency itself no longer issues most grants. ISED delegates to recognised Certification Bodies. Many North American organisations (CETECOM, UL, TUV SUD, Element, Bureau Veritas and others) hold both accreditations, so a single firm can file both dossiers from one engagement. The two grants remain distinct legal acts even when the same organisation issues them.

RF exposure: OET 65 vs RSS-102

RF exposure is where the two regimes look most alike and trip up the most projects on detail.

Aspect	FCC	ISED
Reference document	OET Bulletin 65, KDB 447498	RSS-102
SAR limit (head/trunk)	1.6 W/kg over 1 g	broadly aligned, 1.6 W/kg over 1 g
MPE limits	distance-based, per band	distance-based, per band
Exemption tables	KDB-based SAR exemptions	RSS-102 SAR exemption tables
Report format	FCC report template	RSS-102 template, distinct metadata

The limits are practically the same, but the procedures, exemption thresholds and report formats differ. The common production path is a single measurement campaign on a shared phantom, then post-processing into two reports, one for the FCC TCB and one for the ISED CB. Both rest on the ICNIRP and IEEE C95.1 lineage, which is why the underlying physics is shared. See SAR procedures for the measurement mechanics.

The Canada-US Mutual Recognition Arrangement

The MRA is what makes a dual programme economical. Its scope and its limits both matter.

What the MRA does:

A laboratory accredited by the FCC (through NIST NVLAP or A2LA) can produce a test report a recognised ISED CB will accept, and the reverse holds for an ISED-accredited laboratory feeding an FCC TCB.
A single report can reference both rule sets, FCC Part XX and the matching RSS, with the corresponding limits stated for each.
Radio emissions and RF exposure measurements are reused rather than repeated.

What the MRA does not do:

It does not merge the certificates. Two dossiers are filed, one to a TCB and one to a CB, even when the same firm holds both roles.
It does not waive band differences. The test plan must cover the union of bands operated in both countries; Canadian and US cellular band plans are close but not identical.
It does not replace the REL entry or the FCC EAS grant. Each authority checks its own database.

In practice the marginal cost of adding ISED to an existing FCC programme is modest: the heavy measurements are shared, and the extra work is a cover letter, the ICES-003 report, label and bilingual manual adaptation, and the CB review queue. Budget a few weeks of incremental calendar rather than a second full campaign. For a broader trans-Atlantic view see EU-US dual certification and CE vs FCC EMC.

Labelling, language and user notices

Both regimes require the identifier on the product and a user notice in the manual, but the wording and language obligations diverge.

FCC label

The FCC ID must appear on the device label or as an e-label compliant with Section 2.935. The user manual carries the Part 15 interference statement in English.

IC label and bilingualism

The IC identifier follows the "IC:" prefix on a physical label or an e-label compliant with RSS-Gen Section 5.5. The decisive Canadian difference is language: the RSS-Gen and RSS-247 statements must appear in both French and English for products distributed in Canada, in line with federal bilingualism and the Quebec Charter of the French Language. A monolingual English manual is a frequent cause of customs blockage.

Combined label

For a product sold in both markets the FCC ID and the IC identifier may share one label, provided each is clearly separated and legible. The notices themselves cannot be merged into a single sentence: the FCC and ISED wordings differ, and the Canadian text must be bilingual.

Step by step: running a dual ISED + FCC programme

Scope the bands. List every operated band in both countries and map each to its FCC Part and its RSS standard. Note the band-plan gaps.
Select an MRA-capable laboratory. Confirm the lab is accredited on at least one side and recognised under the MRA so its report serves both.
Build one test plan. Cover the union of bands, the RF exposure campaign, and the non-radio emissions (Part 15 Subpart B and ICES-003).
Run the campaign once. Radio emissions, RF exposure (OET 65 and RSS-102), unintentional emissions.
Choose the body or bodies. Pick a firm holding both a TCB accreditation and an ISED CB recognition to file both dossiers from one engagement, or two separate bodies.
File the FCC dossier. TCB review, FCC ID grant, EAS publication.
File the ISED dossier. CB review, IC identifier, Company Code and Product Code, REL listing.
Produce the combined label and bilingual manual. FCC ID plus IC identifier, English plus French notices.
Maintain both grants. A change affecting RF characteristics triggers an FCC Class II Permissive Change and the equivalent ISED filing with the original CB.

For realistic durations see Certification timeline and for budgeting see Certification costs.

Common pitfalls

Pitfall	Consequence	Avoid by
Assuming an FCC ID covers Canada	No REL entry, customs blockage	Filing a separate ISED dossier
Treating the MRA as a single certificate	Missing one grant	Filing two dossiers, sharing only test data
Omitting the ICES-003 report	Incomplete ISED dossier	Including both RSS and ICES reports
Monolingual English manual for Canada	Customs blockage, recall risk	Bilingual French and English notices
Confusing RSS-247 and RSS-210	CB return, partial retest	Mapping Wi-Fi/BLE to RSS-247
Forgetting the Canadian Representative (Cat. I)	Suspended procedure	Designating a representative before filing
Testing only US bands	Retest for Canadian-only bands	Covering the union of band plans upfront
Undeclared post-grant change	Withdrawal, possible recall	Filing Class II PC and the ISED equivalent

Which one do you need?

The short answer: if you ship the product into both countries, you need both, and the MRA makes the second one cheap. Use this logic:

US market only: FCC authorisation alone. SDoC if the device is a non-radio digital product, Certification with an FCC ID if it transmits.
Canadian market only: ISED authorisation alone. ICES-003 declaration for the digital portion, CB certification with an IC identifier if it transmits.
Both markets (the common case): plan a single MRA-based test campaign, then file both dossiers. The FCC ID and the IC identifier are separate, the EAS and REL entries are separate, and the label and manual carry both regimes and both languages.

There is no scenario in which one authorisation substitutes for the other. The MRA shares engineering effort, not legal authorisation. Scope both from the start and the marginal cost of the second is measured in weeks, not in a duplicated programme.

Sources and references

Sources & references

47 CFR Part 15: Radio frequency devices , eCFR www.ecfr.gov/current/title-47/chapter-I/subchapter-A/part-15
47 CFR Part 2, Subpart J: Equipment Authorization Procedures , eCFR www.ecfr.gov/current/title-47/chapter-I/subchapter-A/part-2/subpart-J
FCC Equipment Authorization , FCC www.fcc.gov/engineering-technology/laboratory-division/general/equipment-authorization
RSS-Gen: general requirements for compliance of radio apparatus , ISED Canada ised-isde.canada.ca/site/spectrum-management-telecommunications/en/spectrum-allocation/rss-gen-general-requirements-compliance-radio-apparatus
RSS-102: RF exposure compliance of radiocommunication apparatus , ISED Canada ised-isde.canada.ca/site/spectrum-management-telecommunications/en/spectrum-allocation/rss-102-radio-frequency-rf-exposure-compliance-radiocommunication-apparatus
Radio Equipment List (REL): official search portal , ISED Canada sms-sgs.ic.gc.ca/equipmentSearch/searchRadioEquipments?execution=e1s1
Canada-US MRA on telecommunications conformity assessment , ISED Canada ised-isde.canada.ca/site/spectrum-management-telecommunications/en/certification-standards/recognition-arrangements-and-foreign-test-facilities