Friday, May 24, 2013: In an effort to secure India’s information system, the Home Ministry has shared that it will be sharing comprehensive guidelines to screen imported electronics, IT and telecom gear deemed “security sensitive”.
The ministry has short-listed eight categories of electronics, which include cameras, ra-dars, routers, base stations, devices used for data storage/transmission, general computers and biometric/access control devices. These electronics items will be posed to stringent security drill, especially those that are procured from overseas markets, reported ET.
A template has already been created that will help assess whether a specific electronic item can pose security threats. ET took a copy from the home ministry note that gave an example- “electronics than can be connected to the Internet, can be controlled remotely or which radiate energy (excluding cellphones), will be classified as sensitive.”
The report further added, “Though there is no specific reference to imported tablets or smartphones, electronic equipment capable of receiving or transmitting, images, voice and data will also be tagged security sensitive.”
The home ministry gave examples of US and China, both of who rely “entirely on indigenous capacity to meet their requirement of sensitive gear and embedded systems”. In addition, it added that even UK imports electronics items and there are British international procurement policies in place for “testing, inspection and securitisation”.
These plans could rub the international business circles in the wrong way, especially when bodies like US-India Business Council, Information Technology Industry Council, Digital Europe and the Telecommunications Industry Association of US, are criticising India for extending the PMA provisions to private mobile phone companies, by saying that the norms “represent an unprecedented interference in the procurement of commercial entities and would also run afoul of India obligations to the World Trade Organisation (WTO).”
“Provisions may be invoked on grounds of national security to place em-bargo on products originating from certain countries and the manner of placing such embargo may be determined in consultation with the com-merce ministry,” added the note from the interior ministry.
