A French regulator has demanded that Apple remove its three year old iPhone 12 from the French market because tests showed electromagnetic radiation above allowable levels.

The French agency in charge of telecommunications regulation, known as ANFR, ordered that the iPhone model “no longer (be) offered for sale in all distribution channels in France” again.

The ANFR recently tested 141 phones in a laboratory to determine how much electromagnetic radiation the body absorbs during operation of the phone.

It was found that the iPhone 12 exceeded the limit for direct body contact, for example in the hand or in the pocket.

Instead of the maximum permitted four watts per kilogram, it was 5.74 watts per kilogram.

The authorities want to check a possible update from Apple.

The limit value of two watts per kilogram for radiation values at a distance of five millimetres from the body, however, was complied with by the iPhone 12, wrote the ANFR.

It applies to situations in which a phone is carried in a jacket or pocket, for example.