ICASA Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W

We have received this question many times each day; When will we know about the ICASA compliance for Raspberry Pi Zero 2W.

ICASA Submissions

The first thing to keep in mind is that we do not seek compliance ourselves; instead the Raspberry Pi Foundation has employed a company to manage this matter on a global scale.

We do not have any contact with this company; nor do we receive any updates from them, the Foundation, or ICASA. We receive notice if they will be applying for ICASA; which would indicate whether or not we can expect to list this item in the future or not. Then we are notified when the compliance has been granted.

We are not updated as the process goes along, we will only be updated on the final status. We have recently reached out to our friends at Raspberry Pi; to find out if they could possibly give us some new information. The following is the response that we have received:

“The submission to ICASA took place through our partner UL who manages the global compliance on behalf of Raspberry Pi; they are currently tacking compliance across all of the outstanding regions and expect the certificate by the 28th of February 2022.”

Based on the above all we can do at this point is wait. We do hold out hope that this date provided is accurate. However we can not hold them to it.

Illegal sales

It has come to our attention that there are a few places in SA selling the Pi Zero 2 W. They are being done so illegally or are counterfeit goods. As the only officially approved Raspberry Pi Reseller in South Africa; we adhere to ICASA’s regulations; and work with the Raspberry Pi Foundation to ensure that you get official Raspberry Pi goods legally, reliably and at the best price.

As an approved Raspberry Pi Reseller; PiShop is not only committed to follow the rule of law in South Africa; but also industry best practice. Which means that we are obliged to wait for official approval before we are able to sell certain products. Its not just about harming our business; it is also about doing the right thing, and that’s not actually following the law; but rather the reason for the law. Non-compliant radio equipment can cause severe harm. And we trust our regulating bodies to do the right thing; and ensure that our products are safe to use here in SA.

To give and example of why this is important to us; imagine a faulty WiFi chip interfering with a person’s pace-maker… This will cause severe harm to this person. The real problem might not be that severe, however it could carry similar consequences.

I hope I have managed to answer some of the most pressing questions on the subject. While we do appreciate our customers keeping in touch with us, we feel the same frustrations when we are not able to provide any set answers to such questions.