In an effort to protect consumers from potentially unsafe gray market products, India has imposed new certification requirements on a range of electronic products that become effective April 3, 2013.
Under regulations issued by the Indian Department of Electronics and Information Technology, fifteen types of electronic products will be required to comply with applicable Indian safety standards and mandatory registration before they can be legally imported, distributed or sold in India. The affected products include:
- Laptop, notebook and tablet computers
- Visual display units
- LCD/Plasma and LED televisions
- Optical disk players
- Printers, plotters and scanners
- Wireless keyboards
- Video games
- Telephone answering machines
- Amplifiers
- Electronic musical systems
- Electronic clocks
- Set top boxes
- Microwave ovens
- Automatic data processing machines
A second phase of the testing and registration requirement is expected to include mobile phones and other categories of electronic devices.
The market for electronic products in India is projected to reach $158 billion in annual sales by 2015, according to the Electronics Industries Associations of India.