Abstract
A highly respected authority in the field of non-ionizing radiation (NIR) is the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP). This non-profit organization with a scientific mission is a non-state actor that is an official collaborator of both the World Health Organization (WHO) and the European Commission. The frequency spectrum of these electromagnetic radiations is very wide, starting from infrasound mechanical waves and ending with ultraviolet waves. ICNIRP first developed a comprehensive set of guidelines in 1998. These recommendations were updated in 2010. The most recent scientific progress acquired in the NIR domain, especially from the perspective of their biological effects and methods of monitoring, control and reduction, have been included in the 2020 version of the ICNIRP guidelines. This paper summarizes these improvements, insisting on the main scientific justifications that were at their base. Updates related to the importance of transparency in the development of normative acts, new thresholds, changes to restrictions, the introduction of a new frontier (6 GHz) related to the formulation of exposure restrictions, and the modification of some reference level values are discussed. Attention is given to the Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) definition.