ETA Certificate is not for every wireless product

ETA certificate is a permit to import wireless products in India. Unlike the business licenses that gives certification product, ETA approval is meant for the frequencies on which the product work. However, understanding the nuances of which frequencies are allowed and which aren’t is not easy for a lay person to understand. Consequently, it’s easy for a lay person to get in touch with a wrong type of consultant.

And a wrong type of consultant is one at all. All he is looking for is a quick buck and not help you. One of the main realities that these “consultants” exploit is the lack of need of ETA license for every wireless.

If you’re not aware whether your product needs the certification or not, there is a chance that you’re going to get in touch with this consultant. Thus, we have written this blog, to prepare you so that you don’t waste your time with such “service providers”.

What is ETA certificate for Import?

The Wireless Planning Commission, under the guidance of Department of Telecommunication, has created guidelines that decide which frequency spectrum the wireless products should work in. Based on it, there are three frequency bands:

1. The licensed bands: Frequency bands that are licensed for specific products. These products can range from radios to products of national security importance.
2. The delicensed bands: Frequency bands that were one licensed to particular products. However, that license has since been removed and now the bands is free to be used by anyone.
3. The un-licensed bands: It’s also called the harmless frequency bands. They fall so below the spectrum that they can’t harm anyone. Thus, it’s a free-real estate for most wireless products.

ETA certificate in India and likely anywhere else in this world is issued only for products that work under licensed and de-licensed bands. It’s to ensure that the frequencies don’t collide with each other.

As per the above, you don’t need ETA certification is your product works within the unlicensed bands.

Cases where you don’t need WPC ETA certification

Following is the process of ETA approval:

1. You first get the radio frequency test of your product.
2. You file the application to get the approval
3. If the product works within the frequency that the test report says it does, you get equipment type approval.

Things to remember when applying for approval as above:

1. The product must be imported
2. The product must be working at a frequency that WPC hasn’t approved of yet.

In order to know about the second part, conduct an ETA certificate search.

Read More: ISP License

Based on the above, there are two cases for which you won’t need to go through the procedure to obtain the approval.

1. If the product is manufactured in India: If the product is manufactured in India, it will naturally work within the frequency parameters the WPC has setup. Thus, it won’t be needing any type of approval from DOT to exist.
2. If the frequency has already been approved of: If the product is already working at a frequency that has already earned the WPC approval, you won’t need to apply for another approval. remember that we states that approval exists for the frequency, not for the equipment.

Conclusion

The correct ETA certificate consultants will inform you whether or not your equipment needs the approval. To know about such WPC ETA consultant, reach out to Registrationwala. We will provide you the details you need to discern whether you need to spend money on ETA or not.

ETA certificate is not valid for every wireless product. There are exceptions to getting ETA license in India that you should be aware of. This blog explains them to you.