DTI Consultation on Fixed Penalty, On the Spot Fines for Radio Amateurs

This consultation was launched in December and has a deadline of 31st March, just two weeks away!

Subject to this DTI consultation, Ofcom would also be able to use on-the-spot fines in the region of £100 for offences such as operating Amateur Radio equipment without a licence or outside the conditions of a licence. Like parking tickets, these would be easier to use/impose as they wouldn’t need costly court action.

For serious cases of misuse, Ofcom will still prosecute, for which the maximum penalty on conviction is a £5,000 fine and/or six months imprisonment. The courts may also order forfeiture of any radio apparatus used in connection with an offence.

Note that responses to this consultation are sent to the DTI and not Ofcom.

Radio amateurs need to respond to the consultation NOW to ensure we have an effective mechanism to enforce the wireless telegraphy legislation. Fixed Penalty fines are a good way of achieving this, however, it could be considered that the system proposed by the DTI is too lenient as once a fine is levied, that offence/history doesn't count for future re-occurrences.

To help ensure a good response from Amateurs the Chelmsford Amateur Radio Society has prepared a Preformatted Reply Sheet in Word to use when replying to the consultation. It can be downloaded from

http://www.g0mwt.org.uk/go/dti

That page also contains a link to the DTI Penalty Fine Consultation web page.

Make sure the DTI know what YOU think on this important subject.

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