We consider the low-frequency scattering problem of a plane electromagnetic wave by a sphere, which is covered by a penetrable concentric spherical shell. The medium, occupying the shell, is lossless while on the surface of the core an impedance boundary condition is satisfied. The impedance boundary condition was introduced by Leontovich (Investigations of Radiowave Propagation. Part II, Academy of Science, Moscow, 1948) and it accounts for situations where the obstacle is not perfectly conducting but the exterior field will not penetrate deeply into the scatterer. For the near electromagnetic field we obtain the low-frequency coefficients of the zeroth and the first orders while in the far field we derive the leading non-vanishing terms for the scattering amplitude and the scattering cross-section. Spherical coated obstacles are very important in applications. Small particles in biological suspensions, cells, some human organs, atmospheric particles and granules within composite materials are only a few examples of applied interest in science and technology. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]