Phone companies - Apple especially - could soon be posed to take a bigger bite out of India’s growing refurbished phones market, with the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) allowing - via a notification on May 7 - the import of refurbished electronic goods, reports ET Prime. The caveat - and it’s a big one - is that the import of such goods will remain subject to clearance from the DGFT and the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS). Earlier, the government’s stated policy was to ban second-hand goods altogether but until now there were no definitive rules on the import of refurbished goods, the report said. To add to the confusion, buying and selling second-hand goods is legal in India. The report also voiced the concerns of policy experts, who said the new notification would change nothing as the BIS would not issue approvals “come what may”. What the notification does The notification (read it here) amends the government's import policy, and for the first time specifically mentions second-hand goods. It also makes changes to the Indian Trade Clarification based on Harmonised System of Coding - IT (HS) - a system involving eight-digit codes that is used by Indian customs. The new rule reads (emphasis ours): "The import of goods (new as well as second-hand, whether or not refurbished, repaired or reconditioned) notified under the Electronics and Information Technology Goods (Requirement of Compulsory Registration) Order, 2012... is prohibited unless they are registered with the Bureau of Indian Standards and comply with its…
