FM transmitters will be legal in the UK

In two weeks time, it will be legal for people to transmit music to their radios and in-car entertainment systems using FM transmitters.

Under current laws, the Wireless and Telegraphy Act of 1949, which was updated in 1998, low power FM transmitters are illegal to use because of the possibility of interference with legitimate broadcasts.

However, the range of the transmitters is so short, the makers of these transmitters, which could legally sell them in the UK, have argued that this is quite unlikely to happen in practice.

This means that these transmitters UK which wirelessly connect mp3 players to radios and in-car entertainment systems have been on sale, and in use in the UK, for some time.

According to Computeractive's research, there have been no prosecutions in the 57 years since the Act was passed.

Griffin Technology and its UK distributors have been campaigning to change the law allowing low-power FM transmitters since February 2003.

The cause was also taken up by Liberal Democrat Shadow Culture, Media and Sport Secretary Don Foster MP and telecoms regulator Ofcom then agreed to review the law.

Now Ofcom has announced that, as of December 8, low-power FM transmitters, will be legal for use in the UK under the new Wireless Telegraphy Regulations 2006.

Computer accessories company Kensington, a firm that has waited until this announcement to sell its FM transmitters in the UK so that it did not place users at risk from breaking the law, welcomed the news.

Karen Hicks, the company's European product manager for its ‘Play it’ range, told Computeractive that it was a shame it had taken so long for the Government to realise these devices would not pose a problem.

"The British public has been denied the opportunity to use an FM transmitter to listen to their own music on their own equipment, due to out-of-date legislation.

"It's farcical that the 1949 Wireless Act has the power to stop people from using their own low-powered FM transmitters in 2006.

"With radio being the technological success story of the 1940s, the Act was implemented to stop people from using transmitters for pirate broadcasts. However, this is hardly relevant to those who want to listen to their iPod tunes over an FM frequency today."