Is FCC Approval Required for Passive UHF or HF RFID Transponders?

My company uses AD-160U7 UHF RFID label inlays from Avery Dennison with our passive RFID tags, and we would like to sell this tag in the U.S. market. Do we need additional FCC approval, or maybe certification testing? In addition, we offer a passive HF RFID tag that we produce on our own, using chips from NXP Semiconductors. Will we require additional FCC approval for this tag when we introduce it to the U.S. market?

—Jana

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Jana,

You do not need approval from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for passive HF or UHF RFID transponders. The FCC regulates electrical devices that emit radio frequency energy. Since passive UHF and HF tags have no power source and do not emit energy (they merely reflect energy from a reader back to that reader), they do not require approval.

—Mark Roberti, Founder and Editor, RFID Journal