EUROPE| October 2019| Issue 1

Message From SESEI

Dear Readers,
Wish you all a very Happy Diwali from Project SESEI!

Project SESEI team at the outset would like to begin with thanking each one of you for your support, cooperation and guidance during SESEI 3. The need for collaboration and alignment of synergies between the major economies of the world has been recognized, established and Project SESEI has been acknowledged for its contribution towards creating a strong dialogue on standards around emerging technologies & related technologies.
The Fourth phase of Project SESEI after its due approval process has commenced from 15th July 2019.

Newsletters from Project SESEI are considered important tools for sharing of information and knowledge around Standards & related policies work around Project priority Sectors (ICT, Automotive, Electrical Equipment including Consumer Electronics) covering latest on standards, guidelines published and important research and growth-related activities being carried out in India. We are happy to present our first edition of “Newsletter Europe” from the desk of Project SESEI IV.

Lot of new developments in India have taken place during the last quarter. We have tried to capture the important policy and market developments in our newsletter. Ministry of Consumer Affairs launched an online directory recently, which provides information about Indian standards of various products and testing infrastructure in the country for the benefit of various stakeholders such as start-ups. The directory is a one-stop solution for all testing requirements and houses information about all testing facilities available in the country. Likewise, another important development this quarter was the release of “Consumer Protection Bill, 2019” which was recently approved by the Parliament. Bill aims to protect the rights of consumers by establishing authorities for timely and effective administration and settlement of consumers’ dispute. The bill also covers consumer rights on e-commerce transactions whether through offline or online transactions, electronic means, teleshopping, direct selling or multi-level marketing.

The government of India is exploring to expand the Smart Cities mission from 100 to 4000 cities in the next phase of the mission. Smart city 2.0 mission is likely to be rolled out in 2020. The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs is also working towards monetizing of data collected from various local bodies. The India Urban Data Exchange (IUDX) will be used as a means of transferring data between urban local bodies, private sector, academia and civil society.

5G readiness of the country, setting the scene for IoT / M2M technology and how to use Artificial Intelligence to its maximum benefit are the key focus areas for the Indian ICT industry at present. Guidelines for the 5G trials have been issued by the Department of Telecommunications for all the stakeholders. India is also working toward new cybersecurity policy, which is likely to be unveiled by 2020.

The Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), a joint venture of PSU's of Ministry of Power, Govt. of India is leading the procurement and sale of Electric Vehicles in India. The company now plans to address the issue of EV Charging stations, by setting up nearly 1,000 charging stations, and is confident of deploying around 5,000 e-vehicles for various government departments by next year. Government of India also introduced a New Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill 2019, with major change of increased penalties for driving errors.

EESL is also making huge contributions in the Power and electronic sector. It has successfully installed over 5,00,000 Smart Meters across India. The smart meter technology is critical to India’s ongoing power sector reforms. The Smart Meter National Programme that aims to retrofit 250 Million conventional meters with smart variants will lead to 80-100 per cent improvement in billing efficiency.

The Ministry of Power has also released its vision document for 2024. The document, called “Vision 2024”, aims at developing a sustainable, viable, efficient, and competitive power sector to facilitate economic and social development. Clean technologies, renewable energy sources and India’s commitment to accomplish the Paris pact are the latest updates on the Electrical sector.

Apart from the interesting news we have brought details of the important events and seminars which will be happening in India and if interested details of the draft standards released by BIS, ARAI and TSDSI.
Happy Reading once again.

Warm regards,
Dinesh Chand Sharma
(Seconded European Standardization Expert in India)
Director – Standards & Public Policy
Mobile: +91 9810079461
Desk: +91 11 3352 1525
E-mail: dinesh.chand.sharma@sesei.eu

Message From SESEI

Consumer Protection Bill 2019 approved

2019-10-07 530 0

The Indian Parliament has passed the landmark Consumer Protection Bill, 2019 which aims to provide the timely and effective administration and settlement of consumer disputes. Key Highlights of the New Act:

Covers E-Commerce Transactions
Enhancement of Pecuniary Jurisdiction
E-Filing of Complaints
Establishment of Central Consumer Protection Authority
Product Liability & Penal Consequences
Unfair Trade Practices
Penalties for Misleading Advertisement
Provision for Alternate Dispute Resolution

TAGS #ecommerce #IPR

News Source ⇾

ICT

MEITY seeks feedback on data bill from select organisations

2019-10-07 308 0

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY) has sought inputs from select stakeholders on its draft data protection Bill. MEITY, in a letter sent has sought clarifications on issues such as data localisation and ways to govern non-personal data, including anonymised, community and ecommerce data.

MeitY has sought inputs on the scope of the data authority and obligations for the data fiduciary. It also asked stakeholders for feedback on the “contours of a policy that should govern non-personal data” and whether there was a case to mandate free access to such data. The Bill would focus only on personal data of citizens and that MeitY was not looking to expand that to include non-personal data. MeitY is not holding “any fresh consultations” on the Data Protection Bill. No industry association or company has been contacted and only individual opinions have been sought, the official clarified.

TAGS #ICT #Meity

News Source ⇾

ICT

MEITY whitepaper to seek opinion on non-personal data

2019-10-07 308 0

MEITY may come up with a report on non-personal-community, anonymised and ecommerce - data held by companies, including Uber, Google and Amazon, to be used to chalk out a policy on nonpersonal data regulation. The government may also consider leaving it to the ministries or regulators to define which kind of data should come under the purview of such a policy. This comes after the latest round of select stakeholder consultation over the draft Personal Data Protection (PDP) Bill, in which the government has also sought opinions on the contours of a policy for non-personal data, besides feedback on issues such as data localisation.

TAGS #ICT #Meity #PDP

News Source ⇾