The question "how many years between IC renewals" does not even stand. Canada's system — from Industry Canada to today's ISED — runs on continuous compliance, not periodic certificate exchange. You will not find a validity-period field on the certificate, so do not budget for it on a domestic annual-inspection model.
Continuous validity has a premise. RSP-100 is clear: the holder, together with the manufacturer, importer, distributor and seller, is obliged to keep the product compliant with all applicable standards throughout its lifecycle. If the product does not change and the standard does not, the certification stands; if any condition fails, the paper "long term" collapses at once.
A hardware change goes through C2PC. If the RF circuit, antenna, shielding or key components move — even where the spec sheet shows no visible difference — continued compliance must be re-argued, usually with differential testing.
Firmware that changes RF parameters is C3PC: transmit power, band and modulation changed by firmware fall here. Changing only the UI and upper-layer application not touching RF is outside this — do not inflate the compliance cost.
Adding a model is C1PC, hanging a new model under an existing certification; a certified module dropped into a host goes through C4PC. Note C4PC only settles the module's attribution — the host's EMC (ICES-003) and RF exposure (RSS-102) still need separate confirmation.
To put the same product under another company, use Multiple Listing. The premise is that the new applicant's hardware version number has not been used under that applicant, plus an authorisation letter from the original holder stating the on-file documents remain valid.
A full company acquisition is a complete transfer — the number and hardware version stay unchanged, only the holder information changes. Buying only a product line is a partial transfer, and the transferred models get reassigned numbers. Both follow the transfer clauses in the current RSP-100 text.
RSS and ICES series give a transition period on version updates; within it, old and new can both be used for applications, and once it ends, new applications recognise only the new version. Old goods are not retrospectively chased, but you cannot keep using an old report for a new project.
RSS-247 Issue 4 was published on 24 July 2025 and removed the 5600–5650 MHz emission restriction — that old band was forbidden to protect weather radar, and lifting it opens 5470–5725 MHz fully. It also refined the 5150–5250 MHz spurious limits, the indoor-product spurious label, and the 5250–5350 MHz limit split, and clarified the applicability and power-control requirements for in-vehicle LE-LAN devices. For Wi-Fi makers, this is a loosening.
RSS-102 Issue 6 was published in December 2023 and made mandatory on 15 December 2024; RF exposure is split into RSS-102 plus companion files such as SAR.MEAS, NS.MEAS and IPD.MEAS. The real trap is the exemption threshold: at 2450 MHz with spacing within 5 mm, the SAR-exempt power drops to 3 mW, and at 5800 MHz it is only 1 mW — many Bluetooth products fall into the mandatory-test range because of this.
Transition lengths are not uniform — short ones run a few months, long ones by the year. For old projects on hand, check the switch node against the transition clauses in RSS-Gen rather than waiting passively for a notice.
An overseas applicant must designate a Canadian local representative; the IC-ID requirement is mandatory, and only SDoC unintentional-radiator products are exempt.
ISED and its service bodies run post-certification spot checks; you must provide random samples for retest at your own cost on request, and a failed retest means correction and re-argument.
After a complete submission, ISED's published service time is 14 calendar days for certification, re-certification, registration and registration change — certification, re-certification, registration and registration change all share this number. It is a target, not a cap; incomplete material interrupts and resets the window.
The label still starts with "IC:", not "ISED", with the number body following; the Quebec market carries its own French-language legal requirement.
For Canada projects, BlueAsia sorts the product's change history before testing — which of C1PC to C4PC this change lands in, whether the original number can be kept, and the argument direction set early — and for products pushed across all three North American countries combines the RF sample and documents, topping up only Canada's differential items rather than overturning the whole package for retest.
Contact: King Email: king.guo@cblueasia.comAddress: Building C, Hongjingda Industrial Park, No. 107 Beihuan Road, Shiyan Street, Bao'an District, Shenzhen, China BlueAsia delivers more than service!
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