## Government regulations and standards

#### In communications, perhaps more than any other field, the need for standards to ensure correct interoperation of equipment is paramount. Most items of equipment that we use in everyday life, such as, kettles, washing machines, and so on, operate independently of other items of equipment and so standards are not too important. Communications equipment, on the other hand, is always interworking with other devices, possibly located on the other side of the world. The drawing up of standards falls to a small number of national and international bodies, with, for example, ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute) being responsible for the drafting of most of the new wireless communications standards for Europe, and ITU (International Telecommunications Union) providing the same function for wired communications equipment such as telephone/computer modems. Policing of these standards falls usually to national agencies. For example, all equipment to be connected to the UK telephone network must be BABT (British Approvals Board for Telecommunications) approved to ensure compliance with the standards. #### With wireless communications, not only is it necessary to ensure inter operability of equipment, it is also necessary to specify radiation parameters - power level, occupied bandwidth, and so on, in order to ensure that interference is not caused to other users. Where possible, radio frequency allocations are agreed on a global scale at the World Administrative Radio Conference (WARC) held every five years.