Radio rules by country: what each regulator publishes.

Each section below is one regulator's published position and applies only in its own country or region. Frequencies and power figures are given only as the regulator states them. Whether a particular transmitter may be sold or used is decided by that regulator's authorisation rules, not by this page, and nothing here is advice on altering a transmitter. Two regulators, the FCC and Ofcom, blocked the research tools on their own websites, so each point below says what it rests on.

United States: the FCC

The Radio Control Radio Service

The FCC's Radio Control Radio Service (RCRS) is in 47 CFR Part 95, Subpart C. Its sections include 95.703 (definitions), 95.731 (permissible use), 95.733 (prohibited use), 95.761 (transmitter certification), 95.763 (channel frequencies), 95.767 (transmitter power) and 95.787 (additional requirements). These were read on Cornell's Legal Information Institute copy of the regulations, because fcc.gov returned an error.

• Bands by use (95.731, read only on an unofficial copy of the 5 October 2017 text): RCRS transmitters are for one-way communication. The 72 MHz band may be used only to control model aircraft, the 75 MHz band only to control model surface craft, and the 26 to 28 MHz band to control any kind of device. The current text of 95.731 was not read, so this is unconfirmed as current.
• Channels (95.763): six shared channels in the 26 to 28 MHz band (26.995, 27.045, 27.095, 27.145, 27.195 and 27.255 MHz), fifty channels in the 72 MHz band (72.01 to 72.99 MHz) and thirty in the 75 MHz band (75.41 to 75.99 MHz), each set 0.02 MHz apart. The copy read shows no amendment date.
• Prohibited use (95.733): no transmitting on more than one 72 to 76 MHz channel at once if that causes harmful interference; no data transmission, apart from tones that identify a device; no commercial use or payment for operating the transmitter; and only messages that operate remote devices, not voice.
• Equipment (95.787): 72 and 75 MHz transmitters need a built-in antenna with gain no more than a half-wave dipole; only the 95.763 channels may be used; plug-in frequency modules must be certified with the transmitter, and plug-in crystals must not be user-accessible.
• Licensing (95.305): eligible people may operate Part 95 stations without an individual licence, and the FCC does not accept individual licence applications except where a subpart says otherwise.

A search summary of the FCC's own RCRS page, which itself returned an error, describes model surface craft as small imitations of boats, cars or vehicles, other than aircraft, and says RCRS transmitters must be FCC-certified. That summary is unconfirmed. It also listed only five 27 MHz channels, without 27.195 MHz; the six channels above are from the 95.763 rule text as read on Cornell's copy.

The 2.4 GHz band

47 CFR 15.247 covers unlicensed Part 15 devices in the 2400 to 2483.5 MHz band, among others. Frequency-hopping systems must use at least 15 channels, with average occupancy of no more than 0.4 seconds per channel per cycle; digitally modulated systems need a 6 dB bandwidth of at least 500 kHz; and maximum peak conducted output power is 1 W for hopping systems with at least 75 channels and for digital modulation, and 0.125 W for other hopping systems. The latest amendment listed is 1 April 2020. No FCC or other regulator text read for this site says that 2.4 GHz RC car radios operate under 15.247, so that link is not stated here as fact.

United Kingdom: Ofcom

The Wireless Telegraphy (Exemption) Regulations 2021 (SI 2021/493), made by Ofcom on 20 April 2021 and in force from 12 May 2021, exempt short range devices from the licensing requirement of section 8(1) of the Wireless Telegraphy Act 2006, on three conditions in regulation 4: the device complies with IR 2030, the UK Interface Requirement for licence-exempt short range devices; it does not cause undue interference; and it is not used airborne unless the IR permits it. SI 2026/396 (29 April 2026) changed regulation 4 to refer to the April 2026 edition of IR 2030. Both were read on legislation.gov.uk.

Ofcom's own pages and the IR 2030 document returned errors, so the UK model-control bands rest only on search summaries and are unconfirmed. Those summaries say compliant model control equipment needs no individual licence; that using non-compliant equipment is an offence under the Wireless Telegraphy Act; that 26.960 to 27.280 MHz is listed for general model control at up to 100 mW; that 40.660 to 41.000 MHz is for surface models (on the ground, on or under water) at 100 mW; and that 49.82 to 49.98 MHz may not be used airborne. Ofcom published a draft revision of IR 2030 on 20 July 2026 in a 6 GHz consultation; it is a draft, not the text in force.

Europe: CEPT and the EU

In Europe, CEPT publishes decisions and recommendations on frequencies, and ERC Recommendation 70-03 records how countries implement them nationally.

• ERC Recommendation 70-03, model control annex (read on CEPT's EFIS tool, 30 October 2026): covers equipment used solely to control a model's movement in the air, on land, or over or under water. It lists five narrow bands between 26.990 and 27.200 MHz, 34.995 to 35.225 MHz (flying models only, under ERC/DEC/(01)11) and 40.660 to 40.700 MHz (ERC/DEC/(01)12), each at 100 mW e.r.p. with an occupied bandwidth of 10 kHz or less, under the ETSI EN 300 220 standard. The annex marks the bands as not harmonised and not exclusive to models.
• ERC/DEC/(01)12 (adopted 12 March 2001, active, last updated 10 June 2022): harmonises 40.665, 40.675, 40.685 and 40.695 MHz for model control and exempts such devices from individual licensing.
• ERC/DEC/(01)11 (12 March 2001): designates 34.995 to 35.225 MHz for model control limited to flying models, per a search summary of the CEPT text; the exact wording is unconfirmed.

In the EU, the Radio Equipment Directive 2014/53/EU (16 April 2014) sets the framework for putting radio equipment on the market. Article 3 sets the essential requirements: health and safety and electromagnetic compatibility in 3(1), and efficient use of spectrum to avoid harmful interference in 3(2). A search summary of the consolidated text adds that makers must carry out conformity assessment, issue an EU declaration of conformity and affix the CE marking before selling equipment; that summary is unconfirmed on current amendments. The 2.4 GHz entry in the CEPT and EU texts was not read.

Canada: ISED

ISED, Canada's radio regulator, announced RSS-210 Issue 11, "Licence-Exempt Radio Apparatus: Category I Equipment", in Notice 2024-DRS0007 (25 June 2024). Its scope includes remote control devices, but the notice does not mention model control. Canada's bands for model cars were not found in an ISED source.

Australia: ACMA (unconfirmed)

The ACMA's page timed out. A search summary of it says radio-controlled models are covered by the Radiocommunications (Low Interference Potential Devices) Class Licence 2025, with no application or fee needed. The class licence was registered on the Federal Register of Legislation as F2025L01048 (as made 5 September 2025, per the search-result address), but its text was not read, so Australian model-control bands are not recorded here.

New Zealand: a body rule only

The NZRCS Rulebook 2026 (version 1.2, section 4) requires 2.4 GHz (or DSM) radios, lists permitted crystal frequencies in the 27, 29, 35, 36, 40 and 72 MHz ranges, and names 75 MHz among prohibited frequencies. That is a racing body's rule. The New Zealand regulator's own text was not read.

Racing rules on radio (not law)

• IFMAR 1/8 IC off-road (2024, 3.25 and 3.26): 2.4 GHz DSM/DSS systems or crystal transmitters, using only frequencies authorised by the competent body of the host country. Because almost all drivers use 2.4 GHz, no transmitter impound is required, but radios may be switched on only for the running heat and the next group.
• IFMAR 1/10 IC track (2024, 2.14): about 99 percent of drivers use 2.4 GHz, in the rule's words, so no impound is needed; the Race Director can reinstate one after complaints from at least three countries.
• IFMAR electric off-road (2019, 2.19): fixed frequencies and 2.4 GHz systems only as permitted in the organising country.
• ROAR Nationals (guidelines revised 13 October 2026, 5.4.3): only FCC-legal frequencies. ROAR's 18 October 2024 rule book update keeps rule 8.14.3.9, which bans using a radio during a race in a way that affects another driver's car.

Each of these is the body's rule for its own events, and none of them replaces the host country's law. Racing-rule detail on transmitters is on radio equipment rules.