Apple is planning to sell refurbished iPhones in India, Asks govt’s permission for second time

The Apple Inc would be selling refurbished iPhones in India soon as the company wants to capture exploding smartphone market. The California based company will be setting up a plant in India to renovate used phones from Chinese markets.

The Apple filed the request to the government which said that the company needs the permission to sell its certified pre-owned iPhones by importing the units from China. The Environment Ministry’s Technical Review Committee (TRC) struck down similar request by Apple last year. The company was planning to sell 2.5 lakh used iPads and more than one lakh used iPhones in country. The committee said that these products will increase already existing e-waste amount in India.

Refurbished electrical and electronic equipment (EEEs) have shorter life span. These devices are also more vulnerable to wear and tear, TRC concluded in its report. The e-waste burden on country’s waste disposal system is likely to increase due to this. The committee has also suggested middle path. It was ready to allow units which were less than three-year-old with less residual age.

Country’s commerce policy doesn’t allow used EEEs import by IT firms for trading. These used units are classified as e-waste. The import of the e-waste is governed by the Hazardous Wastes Rules 2008. The law allows the reprocessing, recycling and reuse of e-waste with permission from Directorate General of Foreign Trade.

Import of e-waste, regulated under the Hazardous Wastes Rules 2008, is allowed only to actual users for reuse, recycling or reprocessing after consent from the ministry and license from the Directorate General of Foreign Trade.

The India has also maintained in international trade conferences that relaxing such regulation for big corporations will result in large amount of e-waste transfer from developed to developing nations. Apple’s plan to sell refurbished iPhones in India still hangs in-between.