To standardize the use of the 5 GHz band in Europe, the European Commission issued the ETSI 301 893 standard on July 11, 2005. The member states of the EU were obliged to implement this by October 31, 2005.
Instead of the three sub-bands described in the 802.11a/h standards (5150 - 5350 MHz, 5470 - 5725 MHz and 5725 - 5875 MHz for the UK), the ETSI 301 893 standard regulates the three following areas with different specifications:
- 5150 - 5250 MHz
- 5250 - 5350 MHz
- 5470 - 5725 MHz
The guidelines focus on preventive measures for avoiding disruptions to other systems that use the same frequency band. This includes radar equipment that counts as "primary applications". The "secondary applications" such as WLAN have to change the frequency as soon as a conflict is detected.