India introduces mandatory labelling of gold jewellery

A marking, called a hallmark in technical jargon, for the authenticity and purity of gold jewellery and gold artifacts will be obligatory in India from January 2021, according to Consumer Minister Paswan. On 15 January this year it was announced that all jewellers in the country must register with the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) and after a transitional period of 12 months may only sell pieces with the official mark. The stamp of authenticity serves as proof of the purity of the precious metal and is currently only to be affixed voluntarily. The BIS has already introduced a program for marking since 2004, and in the meantime about 40 percent of all gold jewelry is stamped with the hallmark.

Jewellers and retailers have one year to clear their warehouses or mark existing goods with the hallmark. Minister of Consumer Affairs Paswan emphasized that the decision to make labelling mandatory was in the interest of consumer protection, especially in smaller towns and villages, and to ensure that the goods were genuine gold jewelry. Jewellery and gold already in the customers’ possession does not have to be labelled retrospectively as it is usually tested or melted down when jewellers make a buy. The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has established three purity levels for gold jewelry: 14, 18 and 22 carats. The government is also considering making it mandatory to display retail prices per unit of weight (gram or ounce) for these three grades. In order to obtain the certificate of authenticity, the BIS opens inspection offices throughout the country where jewellers can have their jewellery examined and also officially register as gold sellers with the BIS.

India is the world’s largest importer of gold, mainly for the jewellery industry. Each year, the country imports between 700 and 800 tons of gold. The government is also planning to introduce similarly strict quality standards for imported gold jewellery, said Consumer Affairs Minister Paswan. In India, the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) is responsible for the certification of various product groups. BIS certification is intended to guarantee the quality, safety and reliability of products to third parties. For information on the complete list of relevant products as well as further questions regarding the BIS certification, please contact us.

New System for Regulating Organic Products in India

The demand for organic products is increasing worldwide, including in India. A large number of small farmers in India manage about 3.6 million hectares of organic farm land, but also an increasing number of professional farming corporations. According to the World of Organic Agriculture Report 2018, India has the biggest number of organic producers in the world. Several Indian federal states are promoting organic farming.
Due to the interest in organic products, FSSAI published new regulations in the Gazette of India regarding food safety and standards for organic foods. Now, the FSSAI has also announced national standards for organic products.

These standards stipulate that organic food has to comply with the regulations of one of the existing certification systems. These certification systems include the National Program for Organic Production under Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), the National Program for Organic Production (NPOP) and the Participatory Guarantee System for India (PGS) under Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare.

The Indian authority, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is an autonomous institution with headquarter in New-Delhi. They are government agency fall under the ministry of Health & Welfare of India. They were established under the Food Safety and Standards Act of 2006, which is a statute related to food safety and regulation in India. The FSSAI is responsible for the regulation of organic food for the domestic market and imports.

Organic food products need to comply, additionally to NPOP and PGS-India, also to the requirements of labelling of FSSAI.

For any question regarding import of organic products to India, please contact us via email.
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Indian government to facilitate the regulatory environment for telecommunications

During the India Mobile Congress held in October 2019, Vodafone Idea CEO Birla encouraged the Indian government to modernise existing telecommunications regulations and laws. In India, the number of users of broadband services such as the Internet and mobile communication has risen massively in recent years to 600 million and is only surpassed by China. According to experts, new services such as artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT) and robotics will be the driving forces behind future digital growth.

The country’s telecommunications companies are determined to support the growth of the industry, but need a “favourable regulatory environment” to ensure that they have the necessary resources to make appropriate investments and stay on the cutting edge of technology, Birla said on the margins of the congress. After only four years of the “Digital India” project initiated by the Indian government, the country has become the second fastest growing digital economy. The industry’s contribution to India’s total economic output recently exceeded 7.5 percent or 200 billion US dollars. According to the Vodafone boss, however, this is only the beginning of a journey for the country’s economy and population.
The main actor of the rapid digital growth in India is undoubtedly the infrastructure of the mobile service providers. India’s three leading telecommunications companies have invested more than $84 billion over the past four years in mobile networks and infrastructure to build a nationwide 4G network. According to Birla, however, the development is far from complete. New trends and technologies such as automation, virtual reality and blockchain will require further capacity expansion. “The progressive networking of cities, buildings, vehicles and industry will fundamentally change the economy worldwide and also in India”, Birla explained at a presentation of the future plans of his company Vodafone. Benefit from the growth in India. Certain electronic products and telecommunications equipment require certification for the Indian market: BIS registration for electronic products, TEC certification for telecommunications equipment and WPC approval for wireless equipment. We are happy to advise you on Indian certifications with our experienced international team.

Public auction of Radio Frequencies in India

In India many radio frequencies are still restricted by the government, but more frequency bands are being made available for commercial usage. Among the newly available offerings are 30 MHz on the 700 MHz Band which will be auctioned off publicly. 5 MHz of the 35MHz on that spectrum shall be reserved for Indian railways with the goal to improve safety and security to passengers. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has suggested administrative measures to be taken to ensure that these frequencies are not used commercially.
1.6 MHz spectrum is already assigned to Indian Railways in the 900 MHz band may also be taken back upon migration to an LTE based network to be auctioned off later. In 2018 the TRAI has already suggested to free up of 275 MHz in the 3300-3600 MHz frequency range, used for 5G communications, to be auctioned.

By world-wide standards, very little progress in the way of opening up commercially available radio frequencies has been made. Serious public discussion started around 2012 with India’s National Telecom Policy with only a handful of frequencies such as the Citizen’s Band in the 27 MHz range and the WiFi bands in the 2.4 and 5.8 GHz ranges have been made freely usable. Even commonly used frequencies such as the 433 MHz band for RFID systems still require applying for a license with the Department of Telecommunications’ Wireless Planning & Coordination Commission (WPC).
Due to these restrictions, many industries have troubles developing their products for lack of usable frequencies. This problem has been pointed out to the regulators by many companies, including global Automotive powerhouses such as Daimler, who cannot easily provide services such as radar used for onboard navigation due to Indian restrictions. While many governmental bodies in India are coming up with suggestions on how to promote “Ease of Doing Business”, little progress has been made in the actual regulations.
Many wireless devices require the WPC registration in India.
If you are interested to know if the frequencies used in your product require approval in India, don’t hesitate to contact us by email or phone. We will help you meet all your certification needs.

New opportunities for automotive suppliers in India

The new production plant went into operation in April and has already delivered 7,000 new cars. The plant has an area of 700,000 m² and at full capacity 56,000 vehicles can roll off the assembly line each year. For the Shanghai-based SAIC Motor Corporation Ltd., the Gujarat site in the West-India region is the third automobile factory abroad after Thailand and Indonesia. The construction also marks the first investment by a Chinese carmaker in India.

The MG Hector model currently manufactured in India was presented by SAIC Motors in June of this year. Potential customers were able to pre-order their vehicles via the Internet and by the end of September, three months after the start of production, more than 31,000 orders had already been received. The SUV MG Hector is equipped with the i-Smart intelligent mobility system developed by SAIC. It combines remote diagnosis, anti-theft protection, remote control of certain functions and the installation of an electronic fence, a geofencing that sends a message to the owner as soon as the vehicle leaves a predefined radius. i-Smart is integrated into the vehicle as standard and is also available as a smartphone app for Android and Apple. The MG Hector is powered by a 1.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine that delivers a maximum of 84 kW or 114 hp and 150 Nm of torque. In addition, the basic version already includes assistance systems and safety standards at European level.
SAIC sees enormous market potential in India and already announced in 2017 that it would invest 3.275 billion yuan in automobile production and a supplier park in addition to the recently completed plant. The Halol plant of General Motors, also in Gujarat, was purchased and modernized to carry out this project. The Chinese automotive company was able to create new jobs for the local population and stimulate the local economy by locating here. More than half of the components are manufactured by local suppliers and other service providers in information technology, artificial intelligence and other innovative industries benefit from SAIC Motors’ presence in India. Foreign companies are also welcome in the newly created supplier park. Automotive components manufactured locally are subject to AIS certification. We will be happy to advise you comprehensively on the upcoming certification of your company or your products for India.
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