ETSI TS 138 523-1 V17.2.0 (2023-07)

LTE; 5G; 5GS; User Equipment (UE) conformance specification; Part 1: Protocol (3GPP TS 38.523-1 version 17.2.0 Release 17)

RTS/TSGR-0538523-1vh20

General Information

• Status: Not Published
• Technical Committee: 3GPP RAN 5 - Mobile Terminal Conformance Testing (formely T1)
• Current Stage: 12 - Citation in the OJ (auto-insert)
• Completion Date: 04-Jul-2023

Standards Content (Sample)

ETSI TS 138 523-1 V17.2.0 (2023-07)






TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION
LTE;
5G;
5GS;
User Equipment (UE) conformance specification;
Part 1: Protocol
(3GPP TS 38.523-1 version 17.2.0 Release 17)

---------------------- Page: 1 ----------------------
3GPP TS 38.523-1 version 17.2.0 Release 17 1 ETSI TS 138 523-1 V17.2.0 (2023-07)

Reference
RTS/TSGR-0538523-1vh20
Keywords
5G,LTE
ETSI
650 Route des Lucioles
F-06921 Sophia Antipolis Cedex - FRANCE

Tel.: [phone]  Fax: [phone]

Siret N° 348 623 562 00017 - APE 7112B
Association à but non lucratif enregistrée à la
Sous-Préfecture de Grasse (06) N° w061004871

Important notice
The present document can be downloaded from:
https://www.etsi.org/standards-search
The present document may be made available in electronic versions and/or in print. The content of any electronic and/or
print versions of the present document shall not be modified without the prior written authorization of ETSI. In case of any
existing or perceived difference in contents between such versions and/or in print, the prevailing version of an ETSI
deliverable is the one made publicly available in PDF format at www.etsi.org/deliver.
Users of the present document should be aware that the document may be subject to revision or change of status.
Information on the current status of this and other ETSI documents is available at
https://portal.etsi.org/TB/ETSIDeliverableStatus.aspx
If you find errors in the present document, please send your comment to one of the following services:
https://portal.etsi.org/People/CommiteeSupportStaff.aspx
If you find a security vulnerability in the present document, please report it through our
Coordinated Vulnerability Disclosure Program:
https://www.etsi.org/standards/coordinated-vulnerability-disclosure
Notice of disclaimer & limitation of liability
The information provided in the present deliverable is directed solely to professionals who have the appropriate degree of
experience to understand and interpret its content in accordance with generally accepted engineering or
other professional standard and applicable regulations.
No recommendation as to products and services or vendors is made or should be implied.
No representation or warranty is made that this deliverable is technically accurate or sufficient or conforms to any law
and/or governmental rule and/or regulation and further, no representation or warranty is made of merchantability or fitness
for any particular purpose or against infringement of intellectual property rights.
In no event shall ETSI be held liable for loss of profits or any other incidental or consequential damages.

Any software contained in this deliverable is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, express or implied, including but not
limited to, the warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement of intellectual property
rights and ETSI shall not be held liable in any event for any damages whatsoever (including, without limitation, damages
for loss of profits, business interruption, loss of information, or any other pecuniary loss) arising out of or related to the use
of or inability to use the software.
Copyright Notification
No part may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and
microfilm except as authorized by written permission of ETSI.
The content of the PDF version shall not be modified without the written authorization of ETSI.
The copyright and the foregoing restriction extend to reproduction in all media.

© ETSI 2023.
All rights reserved.

ETSI

---------------------- Page: 2 ----------------------
3GPP TS 38.523-1 version 17.2.0 Release 17 2 ETSI TS 138 523-1 V17.2.0 (2023-07)
Intellectual Property Rights
Essential patents
IPRs essential or potentially essential to normative deliverables may have been declared to ETSI. The declarations
pertaining to these essential IPRs, if any, are publicly available for ETSI members and non-members, and can be
found in ETSI SR 000 314: "Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs); Essential, or potentially Essential, IPRs notified to
ETSI in respect of ETSI standards", which is available from the ETSI Secretariat. Latest updates are available on the
ETSI Web server (https://ipr.etsi.org/).
Pursuant to the ETSI Directives including the ETSI IPR Policy, no investigation regarding the essentiality of IPRs,
including IPR searches, has been carried out by ETSI. No guarantee can be given as to the existence of other IPRs not
referenced in ETSI SR 000 314 (or the updates on the ETSI Web server) which are, or may be, or may become,
essential to the present document.
Trademarks
The present document may include trademarks and/or tradenames which are asserted and/or registered by their owners.
ETSI claims no ownership of these except for any which are indicated as being the property of ETSI, and conveys no
right to use or reproduce any trademark and/or tradename. Mention of those trademarks in the present document does
not constitute an endorsement by ETSI of products, services or organizations associated with those trademarks.
DECT™, PLUGTESTS™, UMTS™ and the ETSI logo are trademarks of ETSI registered for the benefit of its

Members. 3GPP™ and LTE™ are trademarks of ETSI registered for the benefit of its Members and of the 3GPP
Organizational Partners. oneM2M™ logo is a trademark of ETSI registered for the benefit of its Members and of the
®
oneM2M Partners. GSM and the GSM logo are trademarks registered and owned by the GSM Association.
Legal Notice
This Technical Specification (TS) has been produced by the ETSI 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP).
The present document may refer to technical specifications or reports using their 3GPP identities. These shall be
interpreted as being references to the corresponding ETSI deliverables.
The cross reference between 3GPP and ETSI identities can be found under https://webapp.etsi.org/key/queryform.asp.
Modal verbs terminology
In the present document "shall", "shall not", "should", "should not", "may", "need not", "will", "will not", "can" and
"cannot" are to be interpreted as described in clause 3.2 of the ETSI Drafting Rules (Verbal forms for the expression of
provisions).
"must" and "must not" are NOT allowed in ETSI deliverables except when used in direct citation.

ETSI

---------------------- Page: 3 ----------------------
3GPP TS 38.523-1 version 17.2.0 Release 17 3 ETSI TS 138 523-1 V17.2.0 (2023-07)
Contents
Intellectual Property Rights . 2
Legal Notice . 2
Modal verbs terminology . 2
Foreword . 28
1 Scope . 30
2 References . 30
3 Definitions, symbols and abbreviations . 32
3.1 Definitions . 32
3.2 Symbols . 32
3.3 Abbreviations . 32
4 Overview . 32
4.1 Test methodology . 32
4.1.1 Testing of optional functions and procedures . 32
4.1.2 Test interfaces and facilities. 33
4.2 Implicit testing . 33
4.3 Repetition of tests . 33
4.4 Handling of differences between conformance requirements in different releases of core
specifications . 33
5 Reference conditions, generic and test procedures, test parameters . 34
5.1 Reference conditions . 34
5.2 Generic and test procedures. 34
5.3 Test parameters . 34
5.3.1 PLMNs . 34
5.3.2 Cells . 34
5.3.3 USIM . 35
5.3.4 Messages and Information Elements (IEs) . 35
6 Idle mode and RRC Inactive state operations . 35
6.1 NR idle mode operations . 35
6.1.1 NG-RAN Only PLMN Selection . 35
6.1.1.1 PLMN selection of RPLMN, HPLMN/EHPLMN, UPLMN and OPLMN / Automatic mode . 35
6.1.1.2 PLMN selection of "Other PLMN/access technology combinations" / Automatic mode . 42
6.1.1.3 Cell reselection of ePLMN in manual mode . 47
6.1.1.4 PLMN selection in shared network environment / Automatic mode . 50
6.1.1.4a PLMN selection in shared network environment / Automatic mode / Cells broadcasting multiple
PLMN IDs with unique TAC's, RAN areas, and cell identities . 56
6.1.1.5 PLMN selection of RPLMN, HPLMN/EHPLMN, UPLMN and OPLMN / Automatic mode /
User reselection . 58
6.1.1.6 PLMN selection / Periodic reselection / MinimumPeriodicSearchTimer . 62
6.1.1.7 PLMN selection of RPLMN or (E)HPLMN; Automatic mode . 65
6.1.1.8 PLMN selection of RPLMN or (E)HPLMN; Manual mode . 68
6.1.2 NG-RAN Only Cell Selection . 72
6.1.2.1 Cell selection / Qrxlevmin & Cell reselection (Intra NR) . 72
6.1.2.2 Cell selection / Qqualmin / Intra NR / Serving cell becomes non-suitable (Srxlev > 0, Squal <
0) . 81
6.1.2.3 Cell selection / Intra NR / Serving cell becomes non-suitable (S<0, MIB Indicated barred) . 89
6.1.2.4 Cell reselection for interband operation . 94
6.1.2.5 Cell reselection for interband operation using Pcompensation / Between FDD and TDD . 98
6.1.2.6 Void. 102
6.1.2.7 Cell reselection / Equivalent PLMN . 102
6.1.2.8 Cell reselection / Equivalent PLMN / Single Frequency operation . 106
6.1.2.9 Cell reselection using Qhyst, Qoffset and Treselection . 109
6.1.2.10 Void. 115
ETSI

---------------------- Page: 4 ----------------------
3GPP TS 38.523-1 version 17.2.0 Release 17 4 ETSI TS 138 523-1 V17.2.0 (2023-07)
6.1.2.11 Area Specific SIBs using systemInformationAreaID . 115
6.1.2.12 Cell reselection using cell status and cell reservations / cellReservedForOtherUse . 121
6.1.2.13 Cell reselection using cell status and cell reservations / Access Identity 0, 1, 2 and 12 to 14 –
cellReservedForOperatorUse . 124
6.1.2.14 Cell reselection using cell status and cell reservations / Access Identity 11 or 15 -
cellReservedForOperatorUse . 127
6.1.2.15 Cell reselection in shared network environment . 130
6.1.2.15a Cell reselection in shared network environment / Cells broadcasting multiple PLMN IDs with

unique TAC's, RAN areas, and cell identities . 133
6.1.2.16 Inter-frequency cell reselection (equal priority) . 135
6.1.2.17 Cell reselection / Cell-specific reselection parameters provided by the network in a neighbouring
cell list . 137
6.1.2.18 Cell reselection, Sintrasearch, Snonintrasearch. 139
6.1.2.19 Speed-dependent cell reselection . 145
6.1.2.20 Inter-frequency cell reselection according to cell reselection priority provided by SIBs . 150
6.1.2.21 Cell reselection, SIntraSearchQ and SnonIntraSearchQ . 155
6.1.2.22 Inter-frequency cell reselection based on common priority information with parameters ThreshX,
HighQ, ThreshX, LowQ and ThreshServing, LowQ . 164
6.1.2.23 Cell reselection / MFBI . 171
6.1.2.24 Slice-based cell reselection / Reselection priorities provided by SIB16 . 179
6.1.2.25 184
6.1.2.26 Cell Selection / RedCap . 184
6.1.2.27 Cell reselection / inter-frequency / RedCap . 188
6.2 Multi-mode environment . 191
6.2.1 Inter-RAT PLMN selection . 191
6.2.1.1 Inter-RAT PLMN Selection / Selection of correct RAT for OPLMN / Automatic mode . 191
6.2.1.2 Inter-RAT PLMN Selection / Selection of correct RAT for UPLMN / Automatic mode . 194
6.2.1.3 Inter-RAT PLMN Selection / Selection of correct PLMN and RAT in shared network
environment / Automatic mode . 196
6.2.1.4 Inter-RAT PLMN Selection / Selection of correct RAT from the OPLMN list / Manual mode 200
6.2.1.5 Inter-RAT Background HPLMN Search / Search for correct RAT for HPLMN / Automatic
Mode . 203
6.2.2 Inter-RAT Cell Selection . 207
6.2.2.1 Inter-RAT cell selection / From NR RRC_IDLE to EUTRA_Idle / Serving cell becomes non-
suitable . 207
6.2.2.2 Inter-RAT cell selection / From E-UTRA_Idle to NR RRC_IDLE / Serving cell becomes non-
suitable . 214
6.2.3 Inter-RAT Cell Reselection . 221
6.2.3.1 Inter-RAT cell reselection / From E-UTRA_IDLE to NR RRC_IDLE (lower priority & higher
priority, Srxlev based) . 221
6.2.3.2 Inter-RAT cell reselection / From E-UTRA_IDLE to NR RRC_IDLE (lower priority & higher
priority, Squal based) . 229
6.2.3.3 Inter-RAT cell reselection / From NR RRC_IDLE to E-UTRA_IDLE (lower priority & higher
priority, Srxlev based) . 237
6.2.3.4 Inter-RAT cell reselection / From NR RRC_IDLE to E-UTRA_IDLE (lower priority & higher
priority, Squal based) . 243
6.2.3.5 Inter-RAT cell reselection / From NR RRC_IDLE to E-UTRA_IDLE according to RAT priority
provided by dedicated signalling (RRCRelease) . 250
6.2.3.6 Inter-RAT cell reselection / From E-UTRA_IDLE to NR RRC_IDLE according to RAT priority
provided by dedicated signalling (RRConnRelease) . 257
6.2.3.7 Inter-RAT cell reselection / From NR RRC_IDLE to E-UTRA RRC_IDLE, Snonintrasearch. 263
6.2.3.8 Inter-RAT cell reselection / From E-UTRA RRC_IDLE to NR RRC_IDLE, Snonintrasearch 267
6.2.3.9 Void. 273
6.2.3.10 Inter-RAT cell reselection / From E-UTRA_IDLE to NR RRC_IDLE / schedulingInfoList-
v12j0 . 273
6.2.3.11 Inter-RAT cell reselection / From E-UTRA_IDLE to NR RRC_IDLE / schedulingInfoListExt-
r12 . 281
6.3 5GS Steering of Roaming . 289
6.3.1 Steering of Roaming . 289
6.3.1.1 Steering of UE in roaming during registration/security check successful using List Type 1 . 289
6.3.1.2 Steering of UE in roaming during registration/security check successful but SOR Transparent
container indicates ACK has been NOT been requested . 295
ETSI

---------------------- Page: 5 ----------------------
3GPP TS 38.523-1 version 17.2.0 Release 17 5 ETSI TS 138 523-1 V17.2.0 (2023-07)
6.3.1.3 Steering of UE in roaming during registration/security check unsuccessful/Automatic mode . 301
6.3.1.4 Steering of UE in roaming during registration/security check unsuccessful/Manual mode . 304
6.3.1.5 Steering of UE in roaming during registration/UE configured to receive Steering of Roaming
information but does not receive Steering of Roaming from Network . 308
6.3.1.6 Void. 313
6.3.1.7 Steering of UE in roaming during registration/security check unsuccessful but emergency service
pending to be activated . 313
6.3.1.8 Steering of UE in roaming after registration/Automatic PLMN selection mode . 318
6.3.1.9 Steering of UE in roaming after registration/Manual PLMN selection mode . 322
6.3.1.10 Steering of UE in roaming during mobility update registration . 325
6.3.2 Steering of Roaming with using SOR-CMCI . 329
6.3.2.1 Steering of UE in roaming after registration / SOR-CMCI rule / DNN of the PDU session / DL
NAS transport . 329
6.3.2.2 Steering of UE in roaming after registration / SOR-CMCI rule / MMTEL voice call / DL NAS

transport . 339
6.3.2.3 Steering of UE in roaming after registration / SOR-CMCI rule / match all / DL NAS
transport . 350
6.3.2.4 Steering of UE in roaming after registration / SOR-CMCI rule / DNN of the PDU session /
update Tsor-cm Timer / DL NAS transport . 360
6.3.2.5 Steering of UE in roaming after registration / SOR-CMCI rule / DNN of the PDU session / store

SOR-CMCI in ME / DL NAS transport . 371
6.3.2.6 Steering of UE in roaming after registration / SOR-CMCI rule / match all / Emergency call / DL
NAS transport . 383
6.4 UE Procedures in RRC_INACTIVE state . 396
6.4.1 NG-RAN Only PLMN Selection in RRC_INACTIVE state . 396
6.4.1.1 PLMN Selection/Higher priority/HPLMN in Automatic PLMN Selection Mode . 396
6.4.1.2 Cell reselection of ePLMN in manual mode . 404
6.4.2 Cell Selection/Qrxlevmin & Cell Reselection (Intra NR in RRC_INACTIVE state) . 411
6.4.2.1 Cell Selection/Qrxlevmin & Cell Reselection (Intra NR in RRC_INACTIVE state) . 411
6.4.2.2 Inter-frequency cell reselection according to cell reselection priority provided by SIBs in
RRC_INACTIVE state . 418
6.4.2.3 Slice-based cell reselection in RRC_INACTIVE state / Re-selection priorities provided by

SIB16 . 424
6.4.3 Inter-RAT Cell Reselection . 429
6.4.3.1 Inter-RAT cell reselection From NR RRC_INACTIVE to E-UTRA RRC_IDLE (lower priority
& higher priority, Srxlev based) . 429
6.5 SNPN and CAG Selection . 435
6.5.1 SNPN Only Selection . 435
6.5.1.1 SNPN Selection in Manual Mode . 435
6.5.1.2 SNPN Selection in Automatic Mode. 438
6.5.1.3 SNPN / User Reselection in Automatic Mode . 442
6.5.2 CAG (Closed Access Group) . 444
6.5.2.1 CAG Selection in Manual Mode . 444
6.5.2.2 CAG Selection in Automatic Mode . 449
6.5.2.3 CAG / Limited Service / No Suitable cell . 455
6.5.2.4 CAG / cell reselection / Within allowed CAG / non-CAG cell to CAG cell . 461
6.5.2.5 Void. 466
6.5.2.6 CAG / cell reservation . 466
6.6 NR unlicensed idle mode operations . 474
6.6.1 NR unlicensed cell selection . 474
6.6.1.1 Cell selection / next strongest cell / Intra frequency reselection not allowed . 474
6.6.2 NR unlicensed cell reselection . 477
6.6.2.1 Cell reselection / next best cell / Intra frequency . 477
6.6.2.3 Cell reselection / next best cell / intra frequency / RRC Inactive . 480
7 Layer 2 . 484
7.1 NR Layer 2 . 484
7.1.0 Common test case specific values for Layer 2 . 484
7.1.1 MAC . 484
7.1.1.0 Default Pre-Test Conditions for all MAC test cases . 484
7.1.1.1 Random Access Procedures . 486
ETSI

---------------------- Page: 6 ----------------------
3GPP TS 38.523-1 version 17.2.0 Release 17 6 ETSI TS 138 523-1 V17.2.0 (2023-07)
7.1.1.1.1 Correct selection of RACH parameters / Random access preamble and PRACH resource
explicitly signalled to the UE by RRC / contention free random access procedure . 486
7.1.1.1.1a Correct selection of RACH parameters / Random access preamble and PRACH resource
explicitly signalled to the UE by PDCCH Order / contention free random access
procedure . 494
7.1.1.1.2 Ra
...