ICNIRP 2020: the radiofrequency (RF) exposure guidelines

Last reviewed: 20 October 2026

The short answer: ICNIRP's 2020 guidelines are the reference levels for radiofrequency fields from 100 kHz to 300 GHz — the band that carries mobile phones, WiFi, smart meters and 5G. For the general public, the whole-body reference level for power density is 10 W/m² above 2 GHz and frequency-dependent (f/200 W/m²) between 400 MHz and 2 GHz — about 2 W/m² at 400 MHz and roughly 4.5 W/m² at 900 MHz (ICNIRP, 2020, Health Physics 118(5): 483–524, Table 5). Everyday RF at normal use distances sits orders of magnitude below these levels. This page explains what the guidelines cover, how their limits are built, what changed from the previous guidance, and how they divide the spectrum with the ICNIRP 2010 low-frequency guidelines.

What the 2020 guidelines cover, and what they replaced

The 2020 guidelines, "Guidelines for limiting exposure to electromagnetic fields (100 kHz to 300 GHz)", replace ICNIRP's 1998 guidelines for the radiofrequency range, and they also replace the 100 kHz–10 MHz slice of the 2010 guidelines — the 2010 guidelines' nerve-stimulation science for the frequencies below that remains in force (ICNIRP, 2020). In practical terms the spectrum is now split between two documents: the 2010 guidelines for time-varying electric and magnetic fields from 1 Hz to 100 kHz, and the 2020 guidelines from 100 kHz up to 300 GHz.

How the limits are built: basic restrictions first

Like the low-frequency guidelines, the 2020 document sets basic restrictions on quantities inside the body and derives reference levels for external fields as a practical compliance check. The 2020 basic restrictions are set against the established adverse effect of RF at guideline frequencies — heating — via a whole-body core-temperature threshold and local-temperature thresholds for skin and tissue (ICNIRP, 2020):

• Whole body: an average whole-body SAR (specific absorption rate) of 0.4 W/kg for workers and 0.08 W/kg for the general public — the public value applies a reduction factor of 50 to the worst-case effect threshold — averaged over 30 minutes (ICNIRP, 2020). For scale, an adult at rest generates about 1 W/kg of metabolic heat (ICNIRP, 2020, citing Weyand et al. 2009).
• Local exposure, 100 kHz–6 GHz: local SAR averaged over any 10 g of tissue: 10 W/kg for workers and 2 W/kg for the public over the head and torso, averaged over 6 minutes (ICNIRP, 2020).
• Local exposure above 6 GHz (the millimetre-wave band used by 5G): restrictions set on absorbed power density in the skin rather than SAR, because at those frequencies heating becomes superficial (ICNIRP, 2020).

The reference levels, as published

The whole-body reference levels for the general public, reproduced from ICNIRP's Table 5 (values also shown for workers; f_M is frequency in MHz) (ICNIRP, 2020):

From 2 GHz up the guidelines additionally publish local reference levels averaged over 6 minutes: 40 W/m² for the public at 2–6 GHz, assessed as the peak spatial average over the projected whole-body area; above 6 GHz, an incident-power-density level averaged over any 4 cm² of body area that falls from about that level to 20 W/m² at 300 GHz (public); and above 30 GHz, twice those values allowed when averaged over any 1 cm² (ICNIRP, 2020, Table 6). These local levels sit above the whole-body 10 W/m² figure — a phone at your ear is assessed against the local and SAR restrictions, not against whole-body values alone.

What changed from the previous (1998) RF guidelines

• Coverage above 6 GHz, for 5G: the 1998 guidelines extended whole-body reference levels (10 W/m² public) up to 10 GHz only; the 2020 guidelines derive local limits from absorbed power density, matching the superficial heating that matters at millimetre waves, and so cover the whole 100 kHz–300 GHz range with frequency-appropriate quantities (ICNIRP, 2020).
• Brief exposures: the 2020 guidelines add reference levels for exposures shorter than 6 minutes above 6 GHz, expressed as incident energy density — the 1998 guidelines had no brief-exposure treatment (ICNIRP, 2020).
• Re-derived E- and H-field levels below 30 MHz: the 1998 low-band reference levels were derived from plane-wave whole-body assumptions; the 2020 values below 30 MHz come from newer numerical dosimetry and are set to protect against nerve stimulation (ICNIRP, 2020, Appendix A).
• Carried over: the headline whole-body public level above 2 GHz remains 10 W/m², as it was under the 1998 guidelines; ICNIRP notes that scientific uncertainty around whole-body RF effects has reduced substantially since 1998 (ICNIRP, 2020).

How this site uses the 2020 guidelines

• The calculator's RF band compares against 10 W/m² — the 2–300 GHz public reference level. The US FCC's public limit at these frequencies is the same headline figure (ICNIRP, 2020, Table 5; FCC, OET Bulletin 65, 1997: 1 mW/cm² above 1,500 MHz).
• Per-source pages apply it to everyday devices: mobile phones, WiFi routers, smart meters and 5G small cells.
• IARC's 2011 evaluation of this same exposure (Group 2B, "possibly carcinogenic") is a hazard classification about the strength of the evidence, not a limit — a different kind of statement from a guideline value.
• How every calculator option maps to the framework above it is laid out on our calculator standards comparison page and in the methodology.

Sources

Every limit and claim on this page carries its dated source:

1. ICNIRP (2020), "Guidelines for limiting exposure to electromagnetic fields (100 kHz to 300 GHz)", Health Physics 118(5): 483–524 (doi: 10.1097/HP.0000000000001210). All reference levels, basic restrictions and change statements on this page are from this document (Tables 5 and 6 and Appendix A).
2. FCC (1997), "Evaluating Compliance with FCC Guidelines for Human Exposure to Radiofrequency Electromagnetic Fields", OET Bulletin 65, Edition 97-01 — the US public limit the calculator's FCC option implements.
3. ICNIRP (2010), "Guidelines for limiting exposure to time-varying electric and magnetic fields (1 Hz to 100 kHz)", Health Physics 99(6): 818–836 — the low-frequency companion the 2020 document interfaces with.