The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has listed a comprehensive list of products that are required to be tested and certified before they can be sold in the country. From July 01, 2022, only products that are certified and tested by an accredited lab will be allowed to be imported or sold in the country. This includes products like smartwatches, tracking devices, smart cameras, base tower stations (BTS) for telecom networks, etc.
All these products have been notified under the third phase of mandatory testing and certification of telecom equipment (MTCTE) regime, which came into force after the government amended the Indian Telegraph rules.
Products like optical fibre, points of sale, routers, transmission equipment, satellite communications equipment, LAN switches, etc, would be included in the fourth phase of MTCTE regime and and the mandatory testing and certification for these products would begin from February 01, 2022.
Tests and certifications are necessary to check for any security issues, in particular with imported equipment. Despite the government’s approval of mandatory testing of telecom equipment in 2010, implementation was delayed for a variety of reasons, including non-compliance with certain WTO rules. However, the Telegraph Act was amended in 2017 to address this issue.
The number of accredited labs in the country has also been increased so that any supply chain disruptions can be avoided and equipment can be tested and implemented as quickly as possible. To test and certify the products, laboratories accredited by Telecommunication Engineering Centre (TEC) and ILAC (International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation) are available.
