The electronic hardware industry has sought an extension from Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) for implementation of revised certification standards for power adapters of IT equipment such as laptops.
A BIS notification has stated that that power cords that do not conform to IS 302-1:2008 shall not be accepted. The deadline for the compliance is reported to be May 6. Industry representatives pointed out that the hardware industry would not be able to comply with the norms before the said deadline. “It is impossible to ensure that all IT products, domestic or imported, will be able to meet the deadline of May 6 for full compliance. The situation is critical because adapters are high volume items and critical for most IT products,” they said.
Elaborating on the challenges, they said power adapters were largely manufactured by smaller companies that had been following European or Korean standards. For them to adapt to an Indian Standard and make the necessary design changes (especially in the case of pin configurations), a minimum of six months was required, said the industry people.
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It was also gathered that BIS labs facing some capacity constraints due to high volume of testing and registrations. Thus, products are still under the process of being registered and being tested.
“At least 3-6 months needed for the industry to meet the recent changes that have been notified by BIS for power adapters,” said a top official of a leading IT hardware firm. “The extension will enable the industry to conform to the new requirements being spelt out by BIS and also complete the registration process,’’ the representatives stated.