Achievements

India’s engagement with the EU has substantially intensified since the establishment of strategic ties in 2004. India–EU relations have witnessed progress both politically and economically and celebrated 60 years of bilateral relationship in 2022.  The Free Trade Negotiations were resumed in May 2021 for a “balanced, ambitious, comprehensive and mutually beneficial” trade agreement. Both sides are now engaged in bilateral negotiations on trade, investment protection and geographical indications. A Sustainability Impact Assessment (SIA) is being conducted to examine the potential impacts of the future agreements.The formation of the Trade and Technology Council in February 2023 comes at a pivotal time in the EU-India relations. It will help to strengthen the strategic partnership and leverage the relationship in areas that are important for the sustainable progress of European and Indian economies.This strategic coordination mechanism offers both sides to work on fields such as 5G/5G, artificial intelligence, climate modelling and health-related technology. Critical areas of collaboration which will be important are the emerging technology standards, climate and clean tech objectives, competitiveness, and the misuse of technology threatening security and human rights.The SESEI Project has played an important role in strengthening of the dialogue between India and Europe on new technologies, standards and the trade barriers. ESEI, through its consistent effort, ensured regular meetings, aligning of issues and areas of interest, sharing of best practices through webinars between EU and India on emerging technologies and enhancing the visibility of European standardization activities, and support European companies facing standardization related issues hampering market access to India.

Some of the key achievements of Project SESEI are provided below:

1. Project Awareness: An extensive network of contact database has been built by SESEI expert. This database consists of Indian government and agencies; EU local actors, i.e. delegation, Embassies, Industry, etc.; Standards organizations in India and market players, i.e. industry, trade associations and federations, etc.

 

2. Propagation of European Standards: SESEI due to his vast knowledge, consistent efforts and strong backing of the Project Partners has been able to well establish the SESEI Project as an important standardisation expert/platform in India. SESEI is invited, consulted for many meetings, forums, presentations and knowledge sharing. These meetings, events, interactions and queries are an important tool and platform to build credibility, create awareness not only about the European standards, policy & legislation but provides an excellent opportunity to showcase, communicate and inform the new developments and technology innovations as being carried out in Europe through its stakeholders and Project Partners.

 

3. MoU’s with Indian Stakeholders: SESEI enjoys close cooperation and excellent working relationship with the Indian stakeholder’s involved in standards formulation. This also benefits the Project partners to align with their Indian counterparts.
   1. MoU between BIS – CEN-CENLEC and BIS ó ETSI:  These MoU’s will pave way for closer cooperation between the ESO’s and the BIS to develop and strengthen technical cooperation in the field of standardization to improve economic, scientific and technical relations; to contribute to the removal of technical barriers to trade through harmonised standards; to ensure the compatibility and interchangeability of supplied products and their safety for human life, health and private property and to promote environmental protection.
   2. MoU between BIF and ETSI: Broadband India Forum (BIF) is an important industry association representing telecom sector and a MoU between BIF and ETSI has been established for cooperation.
   3. Renewal of COAI-ETSI MoU: COAI is a leading telecom Industry association. Signing of MoU with COAI provides an opportunity to be connected with the ICT industry on standards, technical, policy and regulatory issues.
   4. CEN-CENELEC Cooperation Agreement with ISGF on a technical level, share information, development & promotion of standards of Smart Grids & Smart Meters
   5. Membership and close working cooperation with IET-Future Tech on IoT / M2M and emerging technologies.  SESEI expert has used this platform to promote EU work around M2M/IoT standards and its role in smart cities.

 

4. Specialised Reports: As part of the SESEI deliverables, special reports concerning the project priority sectors are prepared by the SESEI team. These sector specific reports provide a detailed overview of the sector, eco system, key players, government initiatives, special policies and market updates. SESEI also prepares brief reports on demand of the Indian or European Stakeholders, on specific issues.  The important reports prepared by SESEI IV are:
   1. Industry Sector Profile Report: SESEI drafted and released following sector specific reports:
      • Report on Indian Electrical Equipment Including Consumer Electronics Industry Final
      • Indian Smart City Sector Report_
      • Indian Automotive Sector Report
      • Indian ICT Sector – Report

      These report covers key industry players/leaders, market dynamics, future predictions, main standardisation bodies and the key initiatives of the government.

   2. Reports on request of European/ Indian Standardisation Stakeholders: SESEI is acknowledged as an expert on the European standards and is consulted by the government bodies / Industry bodies for specific information related to new Technologies/ Standards / Research & Development work carried out by European Standardisation Bodies. Similarly, SESEI also prepares brief reports for the Project Partners on issues specific to India.
      • Report on Market Surveillance: Europe
      • Report on EU Legislation & Standards addressing Accessibility: Europe
      • Report on India’s trade
      • Report on Market Access: India
      • Report on Circular Economy & Resource Efficiency in India – Policy and Standardization
   3. SESEI IV: Special reports
      • Report on Indian Standardization Policy and Regulation (Presentation)
      • EU_EFTA funded projects in India 2022_European Format
      • Catalogue of Indian Standards – BIS Catalogue Jan 2022