India’s Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) issued a notice on December 20, 2022, to bring 50 products under 16 categories under mandatory quality control order (QCOs) by second quarter of 2023-24. The notice informed that items under this order would need to be certified as compliant with standards set by Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) and cannot be produced, sold, traded, imported or stocked unless they bear the “BIS” mark denoting quality certification, once the QCOs come into force next year. DPIIT has stated that the proposed QCOs are in consonance with WTO Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) for industries falling under its domain.
BIS rules on compliance of QCOs in case of imported goods states that orders applicable to domestically produced goods shall apply to imported products and subjected to same mandatory compliance and thus for these imported products, manufacturers in foreign country will be required to obtain license from BIS under the Foreign Manufacturers Certification Scheme (FMCS) of the standards organization.
The rule also provides that any person contravening provisions of QCOs shall be punishable with fine or imprisonment or both under the BIS Act.
The drafts of the QCOs for 16 categories have been put out for circulation among industry representative associations, associations of respective producers and respective administrative ministries and open for submission of comments from the latter till December 31, 2022.
The QCOs are:
- Aluminium and Aluminium Alloy Products (Quality Control) Order 2023
- Bolts, Nuts and Fasteners (Quality Control) Order 2023
- Ceiling Fan Regulator (Quality Control) Order 2023
- Conduits and Fittings for Electrical Installation (Quality Control) Order 2023
- Copper Products (Quality Control) Order 2023
- Deepwell Handpumps and Components (Quality Control) Order 2023
- Drum and Tin (Quality Control) Order 2023
- Fire Extinguishers (Quality Control) Order 2023
- Hand Tools (Quality Control) Order 2023
- Hinges (Quality Control) Order 2023
- Household and similar Electrical Appliances (Quality Control) Order 2023
- Laboratory Glassware (Quality Control) Order 2023.
- Solar DC Cable and Fire Survival Cable (Quality Control) Order 2023
- Steel Wires/Strands, Nylon/Wire Ropes and Wire Mesh (Quality Control) Order 2023
- Valves and Taps (Quality Control) Order 2023
- Welding Wires, Rods and Electrodes (Quality Control) Order 2023.
The DPIIT notice mentions that each of the goods and articles must comply respective Indian Standards (IS) number issued by BIS and compulsorily carry the quality marking with BIS being the designated authority for certifying and enforcement of the standards for respective goods and articles.
A spokesperson of DPIIT said that “it is in continuous engagement with BIS to rapidly identify and increase the number of goods and articles that can be brought under QCOs and check imports of sub-standard quality similar goods and articles into the country and at same time, ensure ‘zero defect: zero effect’ production by domestic industry.”
Drafts on Quality Control Orders for 50 products under 16 categories:
https://dpiit.gov.in/sites/default/files/draft_QualityControlOrder_20December2022_1.pdf