Refurbished and certified smartphones! Choosing between your wallet and your health is now a thing of the past.

More environmentally-friendly and more economical, refurbished smartphones are winning over an increasing number of consumers (10% to 15% of total smartphone sales). But does a refurbished smartphone offer the same safety guarantee regarding the emission of electromagnetic waves as a new smartphone?
Yes! Itancia Again now provides this guarantee thanks to a unique and innovative technology developed by ART-FI. A specialist for more than 30 years in the refurbishment of technological products (smartphones, tablets, PCs, etc.), Itancia Again is the only French refurbisher capable of measuring the impact of the electromagnetic waves emitted by its smartphones directly on the refurbishment line (1), while guaranteeing their optimal performance.

What does the law say about new and refurbished products?

In 2011, the WHO classified electromagnetic waves as possibly carcinogenic to humans.
In France, since the 2020 law, it is compulsory to indicate three distinct values of these waves emitted by mobile devices, through the SAR (Specific Absorption Rate) indicator.
The head and trunk SAR must be less than 2 Watts/kg, the limbs SAR less than 4 Watts/kg. A SAR value above the legal limits may endanger the health of users.
As more and more companies are providing refurbished smartphones to their employees, and as the private-consumer market is also growing steadily, it is essential for everyone’s health to be able to extend these checks to refurbished smartphones. Furthermore, since the decree of 17 February 2022, all refurbishers are obliged to fulfil legal health-related obligations for each of their products.

What is the current situation regarding these mandatory checks?

In the case of the new-smartphone market, the majority of checks are still carried out in the laboratory – not directly and simultaneously on the refurbishment line – so they are not systematically carried out on each device.
In the case of the refurbished-smartphone market: it is important to bear in mind that a second-hand smartphone has not always had an easy life and its original SAR value may have been altered. This is why the SAR value of a refurbished smartphone has to be routinely checked. Today, only Itancia Again carries out this check directly on the refurbishment line.
And what if choosing a refurbished and checked smartphone was tantamount to choosing a high-performance, safe, environmentally-responsible and economical product?!

Itancia Again is the only refurbisher to check the SAR on the refurbishment line

For more than 30 years, the Itancia Group has firmly defended three essential pillars: ecology, energy transition and the health of its users. A pioneer in the reconditioning of technological products, through its business, Itancia Again, the Group has developed – in partnership with ART-Fi – innovative technology that is unique in France and enables it to be the only company to measure the SAR indicator of its products directly on the production line.
While a SAR value above the legal limits may endanger the health of users, a SAR value that is too low may cause reception problems and avoidable after-sales returns. It is therefore essential to be able to offer customers (both companies and individuals) a product that is as safe as it is efficient (it is worth noting that a refurbished smartphone represents a 70% saving compared with a new one and its environmental footprint is up to 6.5 times lower).

Itancia Again and Art-Fi, an effective partnership and a reassuring label: CheckWave®

Through its industrial partnership with the award-winning French tech company, ART-Fi, the products refurbished by Itancia Again, which bears the La French Fab label, are screened using unique vector radiofrequency scanner technology. This technology instantly measures the electromagnetic waves of connected objects, ensuring a highly accurate SAR measurement, and it is the only one that enables the test to be carried out in real emission conditions for all manufactured devices.
Thanks to this technology, combined with an advanced industrial quality process, the refurbished devices are certified by CheckWave®.
Itancia Again is the only French refurbisher (1) to bear the CheckWave® label.

“We are proud to have implemented a unique industrial tool that enables us to measure the SAR value of smartphones directly on our refurbishment line. This CheckWave® label certifies our work and highlights our historical know-how in the reconditioned technological-product market. The market, users and companies now have a clear answer to their needs for transparency, quality and safety: Itancia Again products.” Thierry Le Goff, Chief Executive Officer of Itancia

“By providing a groundbreaking solution for fast and accurate EMF measurement in production, we are opening up new opportunities for manufacturing and are working together to position France as a pioneer in this field. Together, our mission is to reconcile electromagnetic waves, health and connectivity, and to position ourselves as a facilitator in order to better address consumer expectations,” Stéphane Pannetrat, CEO of ART-Fi

About Itancia Again

Itancia Again, a subsidiary of the French group, Itancia, and a pioneer in giving a second life to refurbished technology products in Europe, offers companies and users carbon-saving solutions. Itancia Again has a wide catalogue of refurbished technology products (smartphones, PCs, telephones, computer licences, etc.) as well as solutions and services connected to the purchase of IT equipment, WEEE management, repairs, etc. All of its products are given a new lease of life at its Maine-et-Loire factory thanks to the expertise of its teams, motivated by current environmental and societal challenges.

About ART-Fi

The French deep-tech company, ART-Fi, has developed an on-the-spot EMF measurement tool for connected objects, allowing high-precision measurement of the Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) in real emission conditions, using its own vector radiofrequency technology based exclusively on Maxwell’s Equations. ART-Fi is distinct in its ability to support manufacturers of connected objects throughout the entire lifecycle of their products, from certification in test laboratories through to systematic testing in production. The company also advises regulators and government agencies on the adaptation of international standards in line with new consumer uses, network developments (5G) and new generations of wireless devices.

Press contacts

Agence TousPublics
Karine Clauzade – 0033 (0)7 86 81 55 79 – k.clauzade@touspublics.com
Emmanuelle Georges – 0033 (0)6 45 64 01 27 – e.georges@touspublics.com

(1) On the French market as at 13 June 2022