As US, China red flag laptop import measure, India to take ‘security’ line

In August, the government had attempted to impose a licensing requirement on the imports of laptops and personal computers but was forced to delay the directive’s implementation till October 31 after strong pushback from the industry.

Since then, it has been working on a new measure called the ‘import management system’ which will require IT hardware companies to register and disclose data related to their imports, and countries from which they import, among other things. But, the immediate quota system under the previous licensing notification is not going to be imposed from the get go, in a much needed relief to the industry.

The policy, however, is yet to be officially released by the government. The August 3 notification, which delayed the implementation of licensing norms until October 31, is also yet to be formally revoked.

During a meeting of the WTO’s Committee on Market Access on Monday (October 16), the US said that the decision will have an impact on trade of these products, including US exports to India, once it is implemented. America has also said that the decision is creating uncertainty for exporters and downstream users.

Korea stressed that the proposed measures by India seem inconsistent with WTO rules and could consequently create unnecessary trade barriers. The country requested India to reconsider the implementation of these measures and provide detailed clarifications and information on this issue, including the timeline of its implementation.

Another senior government official said the concerns raised by the countries will be duly addressed at the WTO. The official, however, said that the grounds to object are premature given the fact that the policy for laptop imports is yet to come into place.

Also, given that there were concerns about national security which prompted the restrictions in the first place, it should not be held against India as other countries are also bringing out changes in policies linked to their national interest.

“Countries keep raising concerns at WTO, India has also raised concerns earlier on different issues of some countries. But this matter is unlikely to escalate into a dispute since the policy has not yet come into place. In these times, when every country is moving for their security concerns, India also took a call based on its national security concerns. There were concerns about certain makes of laptops in the way data was being stored by them,” the official said.

The official said the policy decision on laptop imports will be more in line of monitoring than curbs.

Last Friday, the Commerce Secretary had clarified the stance on the import policy on laptops, stating that there are “no restrictions as such.” Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal said that importers of laptop devices would be on a “close watch” in terms of the import source and that there are “no restrictions on laptop imports”.

“We are only saying that somebody who is importing laptops, has to be under close watch, so that we can look at these imports. It is basically monitoring, which we are doing. It has nothing to do with restrictions as such,” Barthwal had said.