Bundesnetzagentur again identifies large number of non-compliant equipment in 2025
Year of issue 2026
Date of issue 2026.02.05
In 2025 the Bundesnetzagentur’s staff responsible for market surveillance identified significant deficiencies among electronic equipment, affecting a total of 7.7 million individual items of equipment.
“We are continuing to support fair competition and protect consumers. In 2025 we again detected large numbers of equipment that are not fit for distribution in Europe
,” said Klaus Müller, President of the Bundesnetzagentur.
The Bundesnetzagentur identified formal and fundamental deficiencies among the samples examined. The formal deficiencies included having no CE marking or no details about the economic operator responsible, while the fundamental deficiencies included non-compliance with interference limits. Equipment not complying with these limits can cause radio or electromagnetic interference to other electrical equipment.
The Bundesnetzagentur checks equipment offered for sale both online and by brick-and-mortar retailers and works together with customs authorities. The Bundesnetzagentur’s market surveillance team is responsible for checking equipment covered by the EU’s Radio Equipment Directive or Electromagnetic Compatibility Directive.
Market surveillance of products for sale online
In 2025 the Bundesnetzagentur identified a total of 1,266 non-compliant types of equipment being offered for sale online, compared with 1,426 in 2024. It notified the sales platforms, which then removed the offerings from the market. The various non-compliant equipment types affected more than five million individual items of equipment.
Smartwatches and private mobile radios had the largest numbers of items affected. The EU’s Safety Gate rapid alert system lists certain smartwatch models as not fit for circulation on the market because the watches claim to monitor blood sugar levels but actually only simulate this. Despite this, the Bundesnetzagentur detected instances of these smartwatch models being offered for sale. The models did not comply with the requirements of the German Radio Equipment Act (FuAG) either. The Bundesnetzagentur reported these cases to the relevant sales platform operators, which then removed the offerings.
Market surveillance in the German retail market
The Bundesnetzagentur carried out checks on nearly 2,100 equipment types offered for sale by brick-and-mortar retailers in Germany, compared with 1,540 in 2024. Overall, 58% of the equipment types checked did not comply with the requirements. The various non-compliant types of equipment affected about 1.9 million individual items.
The Bundesnetzagentur carried out technical tests on, for example, inverters for solar storage batteries. One type of equipment significantly exceeded the interference limits. In such a case, there is a risk of interference to IP network products operated nearby, such as home routers. The Bundesnetzagentur requested the manufacturer to rectify the deficiencies. The manufacturer discontinued the production and distribution of the non-compliant equipment type.
Cooperation with customs authorities
In 2025 close cooperation between the Bundesnetzagentur and customs authorities again led to equipment being checked at an early stage when imported into the EU internal market. In 2025 the customs authorities notified the Bundesnetzagentur about 8,202 suspicious goods consignments, considerably more than the 5,005 reported in 2024. About 89% of the reported consignments were found to be non-compliant and were prevented from entering the European market. The import ban affected more than 359,000 individual items of equipment.
The Bundesnetzagentur’s market surveillance statistics for 2025 provide more detailed information: www.bundesnetzagentur.de/marktueberwachung#Statistik (in German).