[Press Release] Phonegate : A new victory in our fight for transparency against ANFR

The National Frequencies Agency (ANFR), in a press release appearing March 8, 2018, announced the publication on its site data.anfr.fr the complete reports of controls conducted on 442 mobile phones tested between 2012 and 2017.

In the fight for transparency, it is a new victory against ANFR which, using multiple arguments, has repeatedly refused to make public these data that are essential to the health and safety of mobile phone users.  For Dr. Marc Arazi who launched the alert on this new health and industrial scandal:  “This is an important major victory but now the French and European people must be fully informed and governments must take measures of protection, in particular, ordering the removal of mobile phones that exceed the thresholds in contact with the body.  The inertia of Ministers Nicolas Hulot and Agnès Buzyn is no longer acceptable. »

ANFR has nevertheless done everything possible to delay the publication of the above-mentioned documents as long as possible, we believe, in order to preserve the interests of mobile phone manufacturers, despite the opinion and advice of the Commission for Access to Administrative Documents (CADA) in which it was written in black and white that as of November 2016, these documents were to be made available.  This required us, in December 2017, to summon ANFR for the second time before the Administrative Tribunal of Melun, this time, substantively.  ANFR, a bad loser, does not even have the honesty to present the facts as they are and prefers to be awarded a prize for virtue and transparency.  This leaves us in doubt because the published versions are not the initial editions but versions bearing the indication « –A » and only in some cases were signed by persons who conducted the tests and those responsible for having authorized the reports.

In addition, Mr. Arnaud Durant, lawyer at the Paris Bar who is closely following this case, wishes to react :  “The ‘alleged’ conformity advanced by ANFR for these mobile phones absolutely does not take into account the question of the existence of a possible safety flaw.  In European law, a product is defective when it does not offer the safety that the consumer can legitimately expect.   What other use can one reasonably expect from a ‘mobile’ phone?   One certainly expects to be able to hold it against the cheek, in the hand, or even in a pocket, but certainly not to be subjected to a situation where the thresholds are being exceeded or a specific health risk such as the risk of carcinogenesis.”

The in-depth analysis of these published documents, comprising a total of around 20,000 pages, will require time and networking.  We will not fail to inform you of the result of our study.  For the new controls, it is necessary to ask if the manufacturer Apple benefits from separate treatment, since no test of its products has been conducted since September 2016.

For our part and as ANFR was to transmit to Dr. Marc Arazi all the reports, which it did not do, we are maintaining our substantive action before the Administrative Court of Melun in order to obtain all the signed originals, furnished in their entirety.

* The origin of the term Phonegate comes from Pierre Le Hir (Le Monde of 23 December 2016) « Soupçons sur les ondes des téléphones portables »