New Regulatory Act on IPv6 Compliance

The National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel) recently published Regulatory Act No. 7,971, which establishes the technical requirements for evaluating the conformity of the IPv6 protocol in telecommunications products.

According to Article 2 of this Law, it will come into effect as of its publication in Anatel's Electronic Service Bulletin, and its annexation will be mandatory as of January 8th, 2024. These requirements apply to products utilizing 3G and 4G technologies, while products implementing only 2G technology are not covered.

The requirements outlined in the normative documents 3GPP TS 36.523-1, ETSI TS 102 514, and RFC 8200 are applicable to products with 3G and 4G technologies. Products that exclusively implement 3G technology must meet the requirements specified in the normative documents ETSI TS 102 514 and RFC 8200. Equipment that incorporates communication modules with the IPv6 protocol fully implemented in the software or firmware of the final product must undergo complete tests.

The full application of these requirements is also mandatory for equipment where the IPv6 protocol is partially implemented both in the communication module and in the software/firmware of the final product.

In cases where a final product integrates an approved communication module with a fully implemented IPv6 protocol stack, the assessment of the product's integration with the module in terms of IPv6 protocol functionality shall be performed by the conformance assessment agent. Therefore, the applicant for approval must attach a declaration from the module manufacturer, attesting that the IPv6 protocol is fully implemented in the module. This declaration must be accompanied by results of IPv6 protocol verification tests on the final product, utilizing the "ping" command or another equally effective method defined by a third-party laboratory.