India adopts standards for USB Type-C chargers, video surveillance systems 
India’s Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution on January 9, 2023 notified adoption of standards laid down by Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) for USB Type C receptacles, plugs and cables for electronic devices like mobile phones, laptops and notebooks. The standard published by BIS and published as Indian Standards (IS) are in fact based on existing International Standard IEC 62680-1-3: 2022. This standard would provide common charging solutions for the smartphones and other electronic devices sold in the country. This would facilitate in reduction in number of chargers per consumer as consumers will no longer need to buy different chargers every time they buy a new device. This would help in achieving Indian government’s target to reduce e-waste and move towards sustainable development, the ministry said in a statement.
At present consumers have to keep different chargers for various electronic devices they possess which leads to extra expenditure, increase in e-waste and a lot of inconvenience and countries worldwide are working to address these issues, the Ministry said.
“The BIS standard for Type C chargers has been notified. The government will come out with another set of separate standards for chargers used in wearable devices. Mobile device companies will have to give USB Type C chargers in their products by March 2025,” R K Singh, Secretary to Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution said in a statement.
“The government has set a deadline of March 2025 for completing consultation with industry stakeholders and implement the standards considering global supply chain constraints and availability of products,” he said.
“The deadline for implementation of the standards will follow European Union’s (EU) timeline for uniform charging ports’ standards. The Indian standard will become mandatory within just six months of EU rolling out the same standards for USB in 2024,” Singh said.
The Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) will conduct a ‘impact study” to potential of reduction in e-waste as a result of implementation of single uniform charger for all mobile device, the official said. According to data of MoEFCC, Indian currently generates about 2 million tonnes of e-waste annually.
In the same notification, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution also informed adoption of BIS standards for Video Surveillance Systems (VSS) developed as IS 16910 and in line with International Standard (IS) 62676 series. The standard provides a detailed outline of all the aspects of a VSS such as requirements for its components like camera devices, interfaces, system requirements and tests to ascertain the image quality of the camera devices and also specifies guidelines on efficient installation of the system, the ministry note said. VSS is an essential security component that is used almost everywhere to capture any unwanted activity.
