The Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India reaffirmed the restriction laws of non-compliant IT hardware imports in an official notification issued on Monday.
The Indian government issued a reminder to restrict imports of second-hand electronics and IT hardware that will not meet the BIS standards.
As an amendment of the Foreign Trade Policy 2023 and ITC HS 2022 Schedule 1 Import Policy, the government notified that IT goods under the Electronics and Information Technology Goods (Requirement of Compulsory Registration) Order, 2021 must be registered and comply with the labelling requirements laid down by the Indian Bureau of Standards (BIS) for import.
Regarding LED products and DC or AC-supplied control gears for LED modules, any sample will be picked up randomly from the randomly selected consignments and will be sent to BIS-recognized agencies for testing of safety parameters from the IS standard applicable to the product, as identified by Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY). After that, clearance would be given by Customs to only those consignments which meet all the compliance. Upon failure, in both cases, the goods will be either re-exported back or destroyed beyond use. The importer has to bear the costs in the second case.
These rules were laid down in 2021, so why the reminder now? The notification mentions that the Electronics and Information Technology Goods (Requirement of Compulsory Registration) Order, 2021 gets amended from time to time. A government official has clarified to Reuters that the import policy for these categories in question was restricted anyway, so it’s status quo and no implication of this notification.
Earlier last year, the Government had imposed curtailment on certain hardware items to encourage ‘Make in India’. However, after concerns from several domestic companies, these laws were tweaked in October 2023, adjusting some regulations. Upon doubts from the industry, the Directorate General of Foreign Trade has confirmed that there are no restrictions on the import of desktop computers. However, goods like laptops and tablets require import clearance on quantity and value.
