New Delhi: The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has exempted mobile phones, smartwatches, smart cameras, servers and point-of-sale, or PoS, machines from mandatory testing and certification, which, in turn, entails the burden of compliance as well as imports. Will also reduce the time taken. for related companies.
“The discounts on these widely used products will reduce the compliance burden and enable the industry to introduce their products faster,” the Ministry of Communications said in a statement on Saturday.
The decision was taken in consultation with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), after representation from industries and industry associations, regarding overlapping of jurisdiction of both the ministries.
Under the Electronics and Information Technology (Requirement of Compulsory Registration) Order, 2012, MeitY makes mandatory registration of specific items such as laptops, wireless keyboards, POS machines and other electronic devices.
DoT has mandated Testing and Certification of Telecom Equipment also known as MTCTE under the Indian Telegraph (Amendment) Rules, 2017 issued on 5th September 2017 for equipment capable of being used for telecommunications.
Industry associations had highlighted that such overlaps prevent timely launch of new products, and lead to higher compliance costs for the industry.
The ministry said, “With increasing convergence of technology, regulatory overlap was noted regarding certain products like smart watches, smart cameras etc. The issue was examined by DoT in consultation with MeitY and now products from the purview of MTCTE regime decided to exempt
Along with this, companies will have to do mandatory registration only with MeitY. DoT will issue a notification in due course to implement this change.
The Ministry of Communications said that this initiative is in line with the government’s vision of a clear and simplified regulatory regime.
“This regulatory reform will improve the ease of doing business for electronics manufacturing companies and contribute to making India a $1 trillion digital economy,” the ministry said.