BANGALORE: The government has extended the deadline for Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) certification on imported electronics products till January (2014), said sources familiar with the development. This will come as a huge relief for hardware sellers and consumers, because supplies would have been severely disrupted if the government had stuck to its October 3 deadline.
The initial government deadline for certification was April 3, which was extended to July 3, and once again to October 3. The extensions became inevitable following industry protests, and the realization that BIS had not been able to establish the testing infrastructure necessary to ensure timely certifications. Numerous products submitted many months ago for certification are yet to be certified by BIS.
The government has allowed electronics hardware manufacturers to import products after producing a self-declaration certificate stating that their products are being tested in government-certified labs. It has also allowed manufacturers to label their products (post the certification) in their respective warehouses rather than doing this at the port of entry. Inadequate infrastructure and personnel at ports to label several batches of products has added to the importers’ problems.
Last year, the Indian government issued what it called the Compulsory Registration Order that made it mandatory for 15 categories of electronic and IT products to be registered under the BIS.
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