India granted ‘authorising nation’ status in international electronics, IT sector
19 Sep 2013
India has been recognised as 'authorising nation' under the international Common Criteria Recognition Arrangement (CCRA) to test and certify electronics and IT products with respect to cyber security.
India is the seventeenth nation to earn such recognition.
This CCRA has 26 member countries, including the United States, the UK, Germany, South Korea, France, Japan, Canada, Australia, Turkey, Malaysia etc.
So far, India had the status of 'consuming nation' with respect to certification of electronics and IT products. The status of 'authorising nation' will enable India to test IT and electronics products and issue certificates that are acceptable internationally.
The recognition would also remove the bottlenecks, which as of now had prevented international companies from submitting their products for testing and certification in India.
The recognition would also enable investment in setting up infrastructure and labs in public and private sectors in India for testing electronics and IT products.
In India, the Standardisation Testing and Quality Certification (STQC) Directorate of the Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY) has been operating Common Criteria Certification (CC Certification) scheme for the past 5-6 years. Under it, STQC undertakes certification of electronics and IT products after evaluation of the products at its lab in Kolkata.
The certificates issued by STQC directorate would now be acceptable internationally by all CCRA member countries.
India's recognition as an authority for testing and authorising electronics and IT product comes at a time when the government is planning a big push to semiconductor wafer fabrication (fab) in the country to boost electronic manufacturing (See: Govt seeks to boost electronics by subsidising chip units).
India is now poised to become a major manufacturer and exporter of electronic products, especially with majors like IBM and STMicro setting up manufacturing joint ventures in India (See: IBM, STMicro in $8-bn chip JVs in India).