No more poor quality electrical accessories? Govt sets stringent quality norms. Details here

The Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) under the Ministry of Commerce has mandated the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) certification for electrical accessories such as sockets and cable trunking under the new Electrical Accessories (Quality Control) Order, 2023, which was issued on January 1, 2024.

The order is aimed at curbing the import of substandard goods while improving the quality of domestic products. Also Read | The order states that no item can be manufactured, sold, traded, imported or stocked in India unless it bears the BIS mark and will come into effect six months from the date of publication of the notification.

However, small industries have been given an additional nine months to comply with the order, while micro industries have been given an additional 12 months to comply. The order will also not apply to goods or articles manufactured domestically for export, which may help boost the growth of India's electronics manufacturing sector.

Notably, violation of the provisions of the BIS Act is punishable with imprisonment of up to two years or a fine of not less than 2 lakh for the first offence. For a second offence, the fine can be a minimum of 2 lakh and a maximum of 10 times the value of the goods or articles. Notably, the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) in a separate notification has also scrapped the 'free' imports status given to various types of screws with a CIF value of less than 129 per kg, a report in The Hindu noted.

The CIF value includes the landed cost of imported goods, including insurance and freight. According to a PTI report, the government has taken various initiatives in the recent past to develop quality awareness among users and manufacturers. The new initiatives are expected to create a quality ecosystem in the country.

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