The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), released a Consultation Paper on Encouraging Telecom Equipment Manufacturing in India, in December 2010 and issued recommendations, in April 2011. Japan recognizes that this provides preferred access to products created in India and a similar measure has been considered for electronic devices in the Department of Information Technology(DIT). Japan is concerned that these measures might be incompatible with WTO agreements such as national treatment obligation under GATT or GATS. Could India give its views about this?
Reply: The draft guidelines of Department of Information Technology are under the consideration of the Central Government and policy decision has to be taken. Similarly the TRAI recommendations on telecom equipment manufacturing policy are under consideration by the Central Government and the policy has not yet been formulated. It may be premature to comment on the aspect of compatibility with GATT or GATS.
