Changes in the Bluetooth Qualification and Listing Process

22.01.2014

Changes in the Bluetooth Qualification and Listing Process

In order to support the support the growth of Bluetooth technology and industry and the fund the future investments the Bluetooth SIG needed update their funding model. For the Bluetooth SIG members and technology users these changes will be visible as a revised Bluetooth End Product Listing process.

Effective 1^st of February 2014, the new listing process will introduce the following changes:

• Qualification of Bluetooth products will be mandatory as before
• Members will still be able to inherit prequalified components and subsystems to compose end products out of them or to import test evidence of a prequalified components to reduce the amount of testing required
• Each member will be required to declare, for each of their products, the portions of the Bluetooth Specification they are compliant with so that the product meets the compliance and qualification requirements requirements.
• For this the members pay the listing fee and will be issued a Declaration ID
• The declaration ID is associated with the combination of the QDIDs used in the listing
• Multiple products/models may appear under the same Declaration ID at no additional fee provided that they use the same combination of QDIDs as the original listing
• The fee for each Declaration ID will be USD 4,000.00 for Associate and Promoter members and USD 8,000.00 for Adopter members
• An “Innovation Incentive Program” will be introduced which will provide discounted listing fees for eligible small companies and start-ups. The program allows member companies with less than one million USD in annual revenues and no prior listings (Declarations, QDLs or EPLs) to declare a product for USD 2,500.00.
• Existing EPLs do not require purchasing of declaration ID
• Additional products may not be added to existing EPL even if they use the same QDID as the original EPL

Until 1^st of February 2014, the qualification and End Product Listing process and fees will remain unchanged.

In order to do the listing using the existing process:

• Companies need to become the Bluetooth SIG members in order to be able to make product listings
• Members will still be able to inherit the prequalified components and subsystems (QDIDs) like module hardware and stack software
• In order to list your end product, refer to both the Controller Subsystem QDID and Host Subsystem QDID you are using.
• The EPL description should define the product you are listing and not use the description from the implemented QDIDs
• No listing fees need to be paid before the 1^st of February 2014

For more information about the current listing process, please refer to the Bluegiga’s End Product Listing guide downloadable from our web site.

For details on the upcoming changes to the process, a fact sheet and FAQ, please click here.