The Federal Office for Radiation Protection assigned the Research Center for Bioelectromagnetic Interaction of the University Hospital of Aachen University to develop a special information system on electromagnetic fields. Initially this system was designed in German language only. The objective was to provide information to the general public about the current scientific knowledge on any important question relating to high frequency electromagnetic fields as well as static and low frequency electric and magnetic fields. Today most of the information is also provided in English. The system is available free of charge on the internet at http://www.emf-portal.de.

A central part of the EMF Portal is the option to perform comprehensive queries on scientific publications related to the subjects of high frequency electromagnetic fields and static and low frequency electric and magnetic fields. The query results are presented in such a way that non-experts can understand the information if they have some basic knowledge about the subject. The query results are provided together with a summary of the research results of the most important publications. Explanations of the technical terms can be found in the glossary, which is also available for independent terminology search. Synopses of the available publications on the subject mobile communication are presented in diagram and table form.

Furthermore the Portal comprises a comprehensive collection of relevant laws, ordinances and recommendations from Germany and other countries. Reviews and summarising reports from national and international expert boards help users to integrate single publications into the general scientific view.

The characteristics and important parameters of the most important field sources in everyday life, such as electric devices, power supply installations, transmitters (for mobile communication, broadcasting services etc.), and different modern communication devices are integrated in a separate database. Introductory texts on different aspects of the entire subject (currently only available in German) provide a basis for understanding the sometimes rather complex context.

Publications on risk perception and risk communication in connection with electromagnetic fields were included as separate topic into the EMF-Portal.