Northern Ireland will introduce tighter requirements for internet‑connected radio kit from Tuesday 16 December 2025, after ministers signed off an update to the Radio Equipment Regulations 2017. The change, made under the Windsor Framework, adds new cyber and privacy duties for devices sold into the NI market. The rules were made on 25 November 2025 and apply only in Northern Ireland.

In plain terms, if a device connects to the internet or a network and is classed as radio equipment, it must be built so it doesn’t harm networks or degrade service. Anything that handles personal data, location data or traffic data must include safeguards to protect users’ privacy. These duties sit in a new regulation 6A.

There is a specific push on products that can move money or digital value. If a device enables transfers of money, monetary value or virtual currency, it must support features that protect users from fraud. The measure mirrors the EU’s approach in Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2022/30, which set the benchmark for these protections.

The privacy safeguards reach beyond phones and routers. Toys with radios, baby monitors and other childcare devices, plus wearables such as watches and fitness bands, are in scope where they process personal, traffic or location data. For manufacturers, importers and retailers supplying these categories into NI, this is a real compliance checkpoint before Christmas trading.

Some equipment is carved out where other regimes already set equivalent rules. Medical devices, aviation kit, motor vehicles and certain road‑tolling systems are excluded from these new duties because they are regulated elsewhere in EU law. Businesses should check their product family against those exemptions before assuming coverage.

The instrument also tweaks how compliance is assessed. Conformity assessment procedures in regulation 41 are updated so the new requirements are covered in technical documentation and any third‑party checks, where those are needed. In practice, expect test houses and notified bodies to ask for evidence on network resilience, anti‑fraud design and data protection controls.

Market access rules matter here. In Northern Ireland you use the CE mark, and if a UK‑based conformity body is used you add the UKNI indication; UKCA on its own is not accepted for NI. For goods going from NI to the EU, CE is used without UKNI. These marking rules remain in place under the Windsor Framework.

For firms in the North of England shipping to customers in Belfast, Derry/Londonderry or Newry, note the split across the Irish Sea. Great Britain will continue to recognise CE indefinitely for radio equipment, so GB sellers can use CE or UKCA for the GB market, but NI buyers need devices that meet NI’s EU‑aligned rules. Treat NI orders as a separate compliance lane.

There’s also the UK’s separate consumer product security regime (the PSTI rules). Those duties apply across the UK, but the government’s guidance says they do not cover products made available for supply in NI where EU‑listed legislation under the Windsor Framework applies. That means many radio products in NI follow this EU‑aligned path instead of PSTI.

This update follows last year’s ‘common charger’ step for NI. From 28 December 2024 most phones and tablets placed on the NI market must use USB‑C and meet charging‑related requirements, with laptops joining from 28 April 2026. The new radio‑equipment duties now add cyber and privacy checks alongside the charging rules.

Timings are tight. Devices newly placed on the NI market from 16 December must meet the updated essential requirements. If you sell into NI from a base in Manchester, Leeds or Newcastle, map your SKUs now: confirm which products count as ‘internet‑connected radio equipment’, review privacy and anti‑fraud features, update technical files and speak to your CE/UKNI conformity body where relevant.

For consumers and small firms, the aim is straightforward: fewer insecure gadgets and better protection if a device handles payments or tracks your data. For makers and distributors, it’s another reminder that NI continues to follow EU radio rules under the Windsor Framework while GB keeps flexibility on CE and UKCA. Plan supply chains accordingly this winter.