The Ministry of Communications (MoC) on January 29, 2025, issued the Draft Telecommunications (Standards, Conformity Assessment and Certification) Rules, 2025.
The following key points are as stated:
• These rules shall be in supersession of the Indian Telegraph (Amendment) Rules, 2017, but shall not override the terms and conditions of existing standards, essential requirements, interface requirements, security assurance requirements, specifications, testing requirements, or conformity assessment issued by the Central Government, which shall continue to apply till such time as the same are superseded by a notification of the Central Government under section 19 of the Act.
• These rules, and the standards and conformity assessment measures notified under section 19 of the Act, shall apply to OEM, AIR, importers, distributors, sellers, authorised entities, licensees and users.
• The Telecommunication Engineering Centre and the National Centre for Communication Security, which are offices of the Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communications, Government of India, shall each be an Appropriate Authority for the purpose of these rules.
• The Appropriate Authority shall notify standards and conformity assessment measures in respect of any or all of the aspects specified under section 19 of the Act.
• The Appropriate Authority shall ensure prior publication of draft standards and draft conformity assessment measures, including detailed procedures for the mandatory testing and certification of telecommunication equipment, to allow for a consultation process of at least thirty days to enable stakeholders to provide their comments, which shall be taken into consideration in the finalization of the standards or conformity assessment measures, as the case may be.
• The Appropriate Authority may recognize a laboratory in India or a laboratory in any country, other than those with which India shares a land border, accredited under the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation, as a CAB for carrying out conformity assessment of standards notified under section 19 of the Act.
• The following shall be exempted from the requirement of conformity assessment under these rules:
o telecommunication equipment imported into India for the purpose of carrying out research and development or demonstration or testing of samples in India, subject to compliance with relevant rules and procedures for such research, demonstration or testing; and
o telecommunication equipment brought into India by a person for personal use in India and that is not otherwise prohibited to be imported or used under the Act or any other law for the time being in force.
• The Central Government, in furtherance of section 53 of the Act, may notify a portal for the digital implementation of these rules, including for specification of the standards and conformity assessment, procedures for compliance, fees and charges, notices of non-conformity, and any orders or directions under these rules by the Appropriate Authority.
The draft is published for the information of all persons likely to be affected thereby and notice is hereby given that the said draft rules shall be taken into consideration after the expiry of a period of 30 days from the date on which copies of this notification as published in the Official Gazette, are made available to the public;
Objections or suggestions, if any, may be addressed to the Joint Secretary (Telecom), Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communications, Government of India, Sanchar Bhawan, 20, Ashoka Road New Delhi- 110001;
The objections or suggestions which may be received from any person with respect to the said draft rules before the expiry of the aforesaid period shall be taken into consideration by the Central Government.
[Notification No. G.S.R. 82(E)]
