This week Apple found itself in quite a controversy after French authorities ordered the company to stop selling the iPhone 12 in the country due to dangerous radiation emitted from the iPhone. Now, a Bloomberg report says that Apple has asked its employees to stay silent when someone asks them about the iPhone 12 radiation issue.
iPhone 12 radiation controversy
The Agence nationale des fréquences, the French market surveillance authority for radio equipment and responsible for controlling public exposure to electromagnetic fields, issued a notice on September 12. The notice said that the iPhone 12 is among 141 mobile phones that have been found to have SAR values exceeding the permissible European compliance.
For those who are unaware, SAR or Specific Absorption Rate refers to the measure of the rate at which energy is absorbed per unit mass by a human body when exposed to a radio frequency.
The watchdog said that Apple must immediately take the necessary steps to ensure that the iPhone 12 is not being sold in the country.
On September 15 while Apple was unveiling the new iPhone 15 series, it disputed France’s claim by saying that the iPhone 12 has been certified by several international agencies and complies with all applicable regulations and standards for radiation. The tech giant also sent multiple lab results to the French watchdog stating that the iPhone 12 complies with the standards.
Apple’s new guidelines for its employees
Now, a recent report by Bloomberg mentions that Apple has advised its employees to stay mum when a customer asks them about the ban on iPhone 12 in France due to radiation levels.
Additionally, the company has also instructed the employees not to cater to any demands of returning or exchanging the iPhone due to the radiation issue. According to Apple’s official policy, an iPhone can only be returned or exchanged if it has been bought in the past two weeks.
“If customers inquire about the French government’s claim that the model exceeds standards for electromagnetic radiation, workers should say they don’t have anything to share, Apple employees have been told. Staff should also reject customers’ requests to return or exchange the phone unless it was purchased in the past two weeks — Apple’s normal return policy,” writes Bloomberg.
If a customer asks whether iPhone 12 is safe to buy after the recent controversy, Apple employees must respond by saying that all Apple products undergo rigorous testing to make sure that they are safe to use.
Meanwhile, France’s Digital minister has issued a two-week deadline to Apple to fix the radiation issue by rolling out a software update for the same.