MAIT welcomes move to extend compulsory registration deadline

NEW DELHI: IT hardware industry body MAIT today welcomed the government decision to extend the deadline of Requirement for Compulsory Registration Order, 2012 by three months to July 3, 2013.

The government had set April 3 as deadline for firms to sign the order, which makes registration mandatory for 15 electronic products such as video games, laptops and microwave ovens to ensure safety standards.

Welcoming the government move, Manufacturers Association for Information Technology (MAIT) said in statement that the new deadline to implement the mandatory BIS certification is July 3, 2013.

"The industry is delighted with this move taken by the IT and Communications Ministry. The relaxation of deadline will help maintain the market stability as well as avoid supply crunch," MAIT Executive Director Anwar Shirpurwala said.

Last week, the apex body had said the Indian electronics market is set to suffer a major slump in fiscal 2013-14 and industry may lose over Rs 1,000 crore if the government fails to extend April 3 deadline of Compulsory Registration Order.

Citing a dearth of testing labs, which is leading to delays in registration, MAIT added that there are only six labs, which take time in testing products.

Following that, BIS takes more time in certifying, and following which product labelling is done.

Overall, about 8,000 items are to be tested, and these labs take around 4-6 weeks to test one product, MAIT has said.