While many different measurement techniques and simulation tools are available to assess electromagnetic exposure for second-generation mobile communications base stations, few works have tackled the problem for downlink third-generation (3G) universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS) signals. In this paper, deep analyses of the effect of spectrum analyzer (SA) filtering on 3G/UMTS field measurement for electromagnetic compliance assessment are presented. A procedure for evaluating compliance of frequency-division duplex 3G/UMTS Node B to electromagnetic safety limits, avoiding the use of a code-domain analyzer, is also presented and discussed. Adequate SA settings for exposure compliance testing are proposed, and an important relationship between resolution and video bandwidths is found, which dominates analyzer settings effects on final 3G/UMTS exposure assessment results.