Bluetooth devices are now exempted for WPC (ETA) Approval

Wireless Planning and Coordination is the abbreviation of WPC. It was first established in the year 1952. It is a part of the department of telecommunications for Licensing and Regulations (LR), New Technology Group (NTG), Standing Advisory Committee on Radio Frequency Allocation (SACFA) to facilitate government and also the private wireless users, in India.

All Electronic Devices that operate on WiFi, Bluetooth, NFC, and other de-licensed categories required WPC-ETA Approval first, to be sold into the Indian market. There is a list of things that are issued licenses by WPC, and they are :

1. Network License
2. Non-network license
3. Coordination License
4. Certificates
5. Amateur License
6. Type Approval

The bis licenses can be applied and checked on their status regularly online. A user ID will be required to be created to sign in the portal, organized for it and then the applicant can apply and check on their license status anytime, anywhere, one needs it.

ETA is an acronym for Equipment Type Approval. It is mandatory for every equipment or device operating in the de-licensed frequency bands such as FCC/GMRS, granted by Wireless Planning and Coordination, for their use in Indian Telecom Network.

WPC/ETA is granted only to Indian agencies. No foreign manufacturers are authorized to apply unless they are authorized by an Indian agency for it.

The following data is required to be submitted in the application

• Identification of the candidate.
• Name of producer.
• Address of the company/producer.
• If it is an external power, the subtle elements of the Authorized organization.
• Details of the product with its model number.
• Details of the Transmitter and the recipient including transmission frequency and other technical specifications if needed.

Lately, Wireless Planning and Coordination (WPC) suspended the requirement for obtaining Equipment Type Approval (ETA) for prototypes, samples and pre-launch complements of wireless equipment concerning the license released band in India.

ETA can be obtained through Self declaration for Specific Divisions of Wireless Equipments including: commercial products such as mobile/computing devices such as mobile handsets, smartphones, electronic notepads, laptops, smartwatches, short-range devices including accessories, microphones, speakers, headphones, earphones, printers, scanners, cameras etc., operating in licensed exemption bands as permitted in India. This section includes mobile phones, laptops, e-notepads, smartwatches, short-range devices and accessories, microphones & speakers, headphones & earphones, printers & scanners, cameras, testing, and measurement equipment. Bluetooth devices are now excluded from getting WPC Certificate and Import License. ETA can be obtained through Self declaration for Certain Categories of Wireless Equipments. Whilst Companies that manufactured mobile phones, radios, such commercial electronic products, were expected to take approvals for even sample devices that they used to show the public for declaring launches, the order supported ETA, through self-declaration, for commercial and finished products. That is, Self-declaration from an authorized Indian representative may be reviewed as ample proof to process such approvals by the customs and central excise authorities.

Thereby, advancing the Indian market more attractive to launch new devices.

How To Get A BIS Certificate For Power Banks

Bureau Of Indian Standard, abbreviated as BIS, is a department of Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food, and Public Distribution, which is a ministry responsible for the examination of a line of products, in order to check if they are up to the mark and fit for the consumer. It is a successor of the former ISI (Indian Standards Institution). Remember those ISI marks that used to be on the label of your packaged water bottle, the very same. Obtaining the certification is not mandatory for all the products that are there. But the BIS take electronic goods quite seriously, because of which every electronic device needs to have a BIS certification before it is launched in the market.

Keeping in view, the interest of consumers as well as the industry, BIS is involved in various activities as given below:

• Standards Formulation
• Product Certification Scheme
• Compulsory Registration Scheme
• Foreign Manufacturers Certification Scheme
• Hall Marking Scheme
• Laboratory Services
• Laboratory Recognition Scheme
• Sale of Indian Standards
• Consumer Affairs Activities
• Promotional Activities
• Training Services, National & International level
• Information Service

A power bank comes under the category of electronic goods.

Electronic Goods come under Scheme I of the CRS (Compulsory Registration Scheme) , also called the ISI Mark scheme. A sample of the product needs to be submitted to BIS-approved labs where it is tested. It is checked if the product matches the standards specified by the bureau. After testing, the BIS officers pay a visit to the factory where the product is manufactured and check the manufacturing process.

In total, there are about 1687 standards set on electronic goods, which include
Reliability Of Electronic And Electrical Components And Equipment,

Electromechanical Components And Mechanical Structures For Electronic-equipment,

Power System Control And Associated Communications,

So here is the procedure to obtain a BIS certification:

(a) Submit a sample of the product with an approved or recognized BIS testing laboratory in India to get the product tested along with the required laboratory fees. The fees can vary according to the product under consideration. For small electronic goods, , like that handy power bank that gives life to your dead phone and always saves the day, the cost is usually around 60,000 INR. The manufacturer who needs the BIS certificate must check the price required on the government website, you know, just in case.

1. b) The testing process typically takes a month’s time to get completed. After the thorough examination of the product to check its suitability for the consumer, the laboratory issues the Test Report. In the case of non-conformity to the prescribed standard, the lab will issue a non-conformity report.
2. c) This test report along with other required documents need to be submitted along with the application Form-VI (for BIS Registration) and Form-V (for ISI Registration) to the regional office of the Bureau. The required application fees need to be remitted too along with the form, which are also mentioned in the official government website.
3. d) The next step is where BIS officials visit the factory for physical verification. The purpose is to check the manufacturing process and Quality-Control process of the unit. The officers can pick up random samples from the factory and those samples are sent for further testing. This keeps the manufacturers on their toes.
4. e) In the final step, after all the documents have been submitted and the BIS officers are done with the manual scrutiny of the factory, all the documents and reports go through a final check-up (to check if there was any glitch in the whole process), before the official certificate is issued. Once the approval is received the Government fee needs to be deposited to receive the certificate. The fee for a small electronic gadget is around 50,000 INR. But it is advisable to seek expert help from BIS certifying agents so that they can handle the entire process and guide on the requisite fees required to be paid. ISI Mark registration fees and the BIS Certification costs differ from product to product.
5. f) In case of non-conformity (step (b)), the process or the product needs to be rectified and the rectification report needs to be submitted along with the Government fees or the annual marking fees (in case of ISI Certification). On satisfactory submission, the Bureau will issue the relevant certificate. Hence the manufacturer must ensure that his product is up to the mark and technically error-free (See what I did there! It is electronic gadget so...never mind) so that he doesn’t have to go through this lengthy process twice or thrice (god forbid).

Here are the documents that need to be submitted to the bureau:

1. Technical specifications of the product – the drawing of the product, components and raw material details, user manual, Critical component list.
2. Factory related documents that include
   • Company registration certificate. For SSI, relevant Registration certificate.
   • Trade Mark Registration.
   • Detailed flow chart of the manufacturing process
   • Detailed list of manufacturing machines – name, their purpose, capacity etc.
   • In case certain processes are outsourced, the details and quality control documents related to the same.
   • List of internal testing facilities clearly mentioning details of the calibration status, the least count etc. Calibration certificates of the testing equipment that should not be more than 3 months old.
   • Plant layout
   • Packing and storage details
   • Organization chart of the factory
   • Location map
   • Details of the Quality control team and their qualification certificates.
   • Test report copies for each raw material and part.
   • Authorization from CEO in case of an authorized signatory and in case of foreign manufacturers, details of Indian Representative.
   • Original Test report from BIS Approved Laboratory.

As you can guess, the BIS is quite serious about its work. Only the goods which are up to the mark reach the consumer, unless the process is “corrupted”. You know what I mean.

What is the Procedure to Get a BIS Registration Certification in India?

What can be the possible measures to assure the quality of products that a manufacturer or company brings in the market?

Ever thought that the devices you use in your daily life, the products that help you in running your entire day, What us the quality assurance for the same. Ever thought ??

Even if you blindly depend on them, there are huge possibilities that the product might fail the quality standards. There might be also chances that there may be some issues from the manufacturer's side as well.

To keep the customer assured of the quality of product Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) issues a quality certificate in the manufacture of the company who produces the products for the market. It is the way to provide third party guarantee of quality safety and reliability of the product that is being circulated in the market. It is completely voluntary in nature although the government of India has made it mandatory for a certain category of products. This is to make sure that public health is also being taken into consideration.

The BIS certification is issued in India by the Bureau of Indian standards promoting and administering standard movement within the country since independence. It looks after various things like formulation of standards certifying the related category of product hallmarking.

There is a certain category of products that require mandatory BIS certification registration.These are -

• Cement
• Household electrical goods
• Diesel engines
• Oil pressure stove
• Cylinder and regulator
• Steel products
• Electrical transformers
• Food and related products
• Automobile Accessories
• Medical Equipment

But have you ever wondered what if you produce a product and need to obtain the BIS registration certificate?
Let us now have a look at the whole procedure that is required for a manufacturer or a company open a BIS registration certificate.

For domestic manufacturers -

Application
• An application needs to be submitted along with the prescribed documents with application fees and special inspection charges.
• An application needs to be submitted for one product and each manufacturing location.
• Once BIS is satisfied with the application form as shown in the capability the license is granted and the tests are conducted as per the standards.
• The applicant is also required to agree to the marking fee during the validity of the license.
• Verification process arranged by the Goodwill in 15 days of submission of application
• After received of test reports of sample the case is reviewed. In case the sample fails, the marking is stopped immediately.
Documents required -

• Application form as per the format
• Self valuation report as given in the format
• The undertaking form under the simplified procedure
• The original test reports issued by the laboratory not more than one month older.

For foreign manufacturers -

Application

• The application form has to be submitted along with the prescribed format and requested fees with a document.
• The foreign manufacturers need to set up a branch office and India along with the required permissions and nominate an agent in India.
• Next is a preliminary inspection that needs to be carried out at the testing unit and manufacturing concern to draw the samples for independent testing.

if the institute is satisfied with the requisites the certificate is granted to the applicant after which the applicant is required to pay the annual minimum marking fee and the annual license fee.
It is to be noted that the certificate is valid for one year after the registration and license is granted to the applicant. We at silvereye certifications make sure to provide our clients with all the possible quality services that cater to their needs and to provide ideal solutions to their queries.

What are BIS Certification and Its Benefits

BIS stands for Bureau of Indian Standards. Now, BIS is the authorized national standard body that has been accountable and responsible for promoting and managing the entire standards-related issues in the nation. It came into its true virtue in the year 1987. Now if we talk about its significant functions, it mainly includes activities and responsibilities like the formation of Indian standard for product certification, certifying them as per the said standard, handling issues regarding hallmarking and many more related things.

Now you must be wondering that why are we discussing the role and functions of BIS when we need to emphasize only on the BIS certification? Well, the logic is elementary and relevant here. To understand the concept and need for BIS certification, it is first necessary to go through the demand as it is equally important to know about the origin too.

To make things simpler and convenient for the user BIS product certification scheme is one of the most important factors to be adhered to.

It is one of the most widely accepted policy as it provides over 26,500 licenses catering to more than 1,000 products. BIS certification enables the licensee to have controlled access to the authorization of the ISI mark on their respective e requirement and products.

The essential requirement and benefit of BIS certification are that it enables you to have a third party guarantee of the prescribed quality, safety, and trustworthiness of the respective product to the customers. If we talk about its nature, it's completely voluntary, but it is important to note that the government of India has made it necessary to get the certification for some specified category of products.

Now the reason behind this is also to consider the sensitivity of public health, which is a matter of utmost priority and relevance. To acquire the certificate, the applicant has to submit the certification application with the prescribed documents and fee. After the submission, the part is over, and the evaluation process is conducted by the officer of the department to test the samples and carry on the testing. The certification can be obtained after 4 months of the submission of application.

There are various benefits that a licensee gets after the certification that can be of immense help and upto certain level is also required. So let us have a look at these main benefits that the certification offers –

• The customer gets the quality and standards of products with the certification as there is full assurance of it even after proper investigation.

• According to the provisions, some specified category of products is mandatory to have the BIS certification with the manufacturer. In case the rules and regulations are not followed, penalty and punishment may be attracted. So to stay away from such a situation, it is always advised to have the products certified as per the standards.

• Once the certification is obtained, it gives an impression that the quality of products are entirely assured and this can be of a more significant advantage as far as reputation in the eyes of the customer is concerned.

It is to be noted that the manufacturers for whom it is mandatory to have the certification as per the notification, they can obtain the license under a particular scheme called Tatkal scheme. According to this application is processed aggregate span for the same is around 30 days. On a contrary note, the applications registered under this scheme are handled and treated as a priority in further proceedings.

As it is required to stick to the rules and regulation which provide the same provision as said. So to help and assist you in this process, we are here at Silvereye certifications to get the work done on your behalf. Our services include all the aspects of certification where our clients are enabled to know about the various details and programs of these organizations from time to time.

Contact us today :-

Silvereye certifications provide and assist the manufacturers and brands in getting the certification according to the compliance in the best possible way.
So what are you waiting for?