WPC equipment type approval for wireless goods

Start from the import restriction rather than from the product. Notification No. 71 dated 25-09-1953, issued under section 19 of the Sea Customs Act, 1878, restricted the bringing into India of apparatus for wireless telegraphs to persons licensed to import by the Ministry of Communications. The compendium of orders issued from the WPC Wing dated 06-07-2022 records that this is the provision under which the WPC Wing of the Department of Telecommunications grants import licences for wireless equipment, and that certain exemptions and relaxations have since been given.

Why does a de-licensed band still need approval?

Because the exemption is conditional on technical parameters, and something has to test the condition. The WPC compendium records that the Central Government, by framing rules under the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885 and the Indian Wireless Telegraphy Act, 1933, allows licence exempt use of certain frequency bands subject to compliance with the technical parameters mentioned in the respective notifications, and that equipment complying with such notifications needs to be type approved, with an Equipment Type Approval certificate issued accordingly.

So the logic runs in one direction only. Being inside a licence exempt band is what makes the simpler route available, not what removes the requirement. Equipment outside those bands does not skip a step: the compendium records that an operating licence issued under the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885 is generally required to establish, maintain and work wireless equipment in India, and that dealers require a Dealer Possession Licence issued under the Indian Wireless Telegraphy Act, 1933.

Which of the two ETA routes applies to you?

The DGFT import policy on your own tariff line decides it, not the product category. The WPC compendium records two categories of ETA certificate. Self-declaration ETA is available where the device operates in a notified licence exempted frequency band and falls under the FREE category of the DGFT import policy, and for those products the import licensing procedure is simplified, with a system generated import undertaking through the Saral Sanchar portal being sufficient to allow import.

Scrutiny based ETA applies where the device operates in a notified licence exempted band but falls under the Restricted category of the DGFT import policy. The compendium records that after obtaining a scrutiny based ETA, a separate import licence from the WPC Wing is still required to import such restricted devices, obtained from the concerned Regional Licensing Office. Two devices in the same band can therefore take two different routes, and the fork is decided by the ITC-HS entry.

What is excluded from the self-declaration route?

Four categories, named. The Department of Telecommunications eServices portal states on its Equipment Type Approval page that all products operating in WPC de-licensed bands can apply for ETA via self-declaration except four types of product: radar, jamming devices, drones and satellite equipment, which it describes as any device that transmits to a satellite, including VSAT.

The same page describes ETA as a certification issued by the WPC Wing of the Department of Telecommunications, required for wireless communication devices operating in de-licensed frequency bands or involving radio frequency transmission, and lists mobile handsets, smart phones, electronic notepads, laptops, smart watches, short range devices including accessories, microphones, speakers, headphones, earphones, printers, scanners and cameras among the examples. That list is worth reading against a bill of materials rather than against a product name.

What evidence does an ETA application rest on?

Three documents and a declaration. The eServices ETA page lists an RF test report, an authorisation from the manufacturer where an Indian representative is applying, and technical literature as the required documents, states the fee as Rs 10,000, describes the service as available to the importer or authorised Indian representative, and gives the validity as lifetime unless revoked by the WPC Wing.

The self-declaration route was created by an Office Memorandum of the WPC Wing dated 26-02-2019, on ETA through self-declaration for certain categories of wireless equipment in licence exempt bands, reproduced in the compendium. It records that ETA through self-declaration is permitted for commercial and finished products operating in licensed exemption bands as permitted in India, and that a self-declaration from the importer or authorised Indian representative may be treated as sufficient evidence to process such clearances by the Customs and Central Excise authorities. The same memorandum adds that import licence requirements are as regulated by the export and import policy of DGFT.

What about samples, prototypes and pre-launch units?

There is an express exemption with a number in it. An Office Memorandum of the WPC Wing bearing O.M. No. ETA-WPC/Policy/2018-19 dated 26-02-2019, on exemption of Equipment Type Approval and import for certain categories of wireless equipment operating in licence exempt bands for testing and prototype sample units by self-declaration, and in supersession of an earlier letter dated 11-09-2018, records that the ETA requirement is exempted for test, prototype, sample and pre-launch devices in the named categories and for test and measurement equipment operating in licence exempt bands, on a self-declaration from the importer or authorised Indian representative treated as sufficient evidence by Customs, permitting a number of units to the tune of 1,000 per model.

That is a real allowance and a real ceiling. It covers the engineering sample that arrives before the product exists, and it stops well short of a commercial consignment. The import licence position is unchanged by it: the same memorandum repeats that import licence requirements are as regulated by the DGFT policy.

Who does not need a WPC import licence at all?

Several categories, each created by its own instrument, and all recorded in the WPC compendium. Original equipment manufacturers of telecom equipment in the domestic tariff area were allowed to import telecom equipment without an import licence from the WPC Wing by O.M. No. R-11018/06/2019-PP dated 26-07-2019, subject to an undertaking submitted to the customs authorities in the prescribed format. Telecom service providers were moved to a self-declaration basis by O.M. No. R-11017/02/2021-PP dated 21-10-2021, with a QR based import certificate downloadable from the Saral Sanchar portal.

For licences issued under O.M. R-14016/01/2019-NT(Pt.) dated 23-07-2019, covering experimental, technology trial, manufacturing and testing, and demonstration categories, the compendium records that import permission is built into the respective operating licence and no separate import licence is required. It also records that no import licence or no objection certificate is required from the WPC Wing for a standalone RF antenna or other RF accessories such as cables, connectors and batteries, though an RF amplifier does require one, and that the question does not arise at all for a product that is not a radio frequency device.

What to settle before the purchase order

Four things, in this order. Whether the device transmits at all, since the compendium puts non-RF products outside the requirement entirely. Which band it operates in, since that decides whether a licence exempt route exists. What the DGFT import policy says about the tariff line, since FREE and Restricted send you down different routes with different lead times. And whether the model on the order is the model on the certificate, since an ETA is granted against a specific product rather than against a supplier.

Purser holds those certificates against the specific model and line on a purchase order, with the scope each one covers, so a model number that changed between the approval and the order raises the question while the order is still a draft. Purser never submits to a government portal, and it never sends an outbound message without a recorded human approval event. It does not obtain an approval and it does not replace the customs broker.

Where to go from here

Wireless approval usually arrives with company. An electronics consignment often has to satisfy more than one regulator on the same line.

• The registration scheme on the same goods. BIS compulsory registration for electronics covers the parallel requirement that most wireless devices also carry.
• The survey of what blocks a consignment. What stops a container at the port sets certification against trade remedy and origin.
• Where the certificate goes in the file. Documents required to import into India shows the clearance set stage by stage.
• The mechanics behind a mandatory standard. Quality control orders, the transition route and its dates reads a gazette order clause by clause.

Frequently asked questions

Does equipment in a de-licensed band still need WPC approval?

Yes. The compendium of orders issued from the WPC Wing dated 06-07-2022 records that the Central Government allows licence exempt use of certain frequency bands, by rules framed under the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885 and the Indian Wireless Telegraphy Act, 1933, subject to compliance with the technical parameters in the respective notifications, and that equipment complying with such notifications needs to be type approved, with an Equipment Type Approval certificate issued accordingly. The exemption is from a spectrum licence, not from approval.

What is the difference between self-declaration ETA and scrutiny based ETA?

The DGFT import policy on the tariff line. The WPC compendium dated 06-07-2022 records that devices operating in a notified licence exempted band and falling under the FREE category of the DGFT import policy are eligible for ETA under self-declaration, with a system generated import undertaking from the Saral Sanchar portal sufficient to allow import. Devices in the same bands falling under the Restricted category take scrutiny based ETA, after which a separate import licence from the WPC Regional Licensing Office is still required.

Which wireless products cannot use the ETA self-declaration route?

Four categories. The Department of Telecommunications eServices Equipment Type Approval page states that all products operating in WPC de-licensed bands can apply for ETA via self-declaration except radar, jamming devices, drones and satellite equipment, the last described as any device that transmits to a satellite, including VSAT. Everything else operating in a de-licensed band is within the self-declaration route subject to the import policy on its line.

Are prototypes and test samples exempt from ETA?

Within a limit. O.M. No. ETA-WPC/Policy/2018-19 dated 26-02-2019 of the WPC Wing exempts the ETA requirement for test, prototype, sample and pre-launch devices in the named product categories and for test and measurement equipment operating in licence exempt bands, on a self-declaration from the importer or authorised Indian representative treated as sufficient evidence by the Customs and Central Excise authorities, permitting a number of units to the tune of 1,000 per model. Import licence requirements remain as regulated by the DGFT policy.

Do antennas and cables need a WPC import licence?

No, but an amplifier does. The compendium of orders issued from the WPC Wing dated 06-07-2022 records that an import licence from the WPC Wing is required only for an RF transmitter, receiver or transceiver, that no import licence or no objection certificate is required for a standalone RF antenna or other RF accessories such as cables, connectors and batteries, that an import licence is required for an RF amplifier, and that where the product is not a radio frequency device the question of a WPC import licence does not arise.