The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has formally withdrawn the relaxation granted for the sale of CCTV cameras that do not comply with the Essential Requirements (ERs) notified under the Compulsory Registration Order (CRO) regime.
In an Office Memorandum dated 16 January 2026, MeitY stated that the extension earlier provided, allowing the sale of CCTV cameras imported or manufactured in India prior to 9 April 2025, will stand withdrawn with effect from 1 April 2026. From this date onwards, no sale of any CCTV cameras that do not conform to the ERs notified via the Gazette notification dated 9 April 2024 will be permitted.
The ER framework, introduced by MeitY in April 2024 by amending the Electronics and Information Technology Goods (Requirements for Compulsory Registration) Order, 2021, marked a major regulatory shift for the surveillance industry. Unlike earlier CRO norms focused largely on electrical safety, the new Essential Requirements mandate security-centric parameters such as secure software practices, strong access controls, network encryption, tamper resistance, and vulnerability testing to address cybersecurity and data protection risks in CCTV systems.
Originally, the compliance deadline was set for October 2024 and later extended to 9 April 2025 following industry representations seeking more time to align products with the new standards. A further relaxation was granted to allow clearance of existing stock. MeitY has now indicated that sufficient time has elapsed for industry to transition, and the relaxation will no longer be available beyond 1 April 2026.
