NEWS: Quality Control Orders (QCOs)à Focus due to their growing role in improving product quality, consumer safety, manufacturing standards, and India's trade negotiations.

ABOUT QCOs

• Legal orders issued by the Central Government under the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) Act, 2016.
• Make BIS certification mandatory for notified products.
• Products covered under QCOs cannot be manufactured, imported, sold, or distributed without the BIS Standard Mark and a valid licence.

Objectives

• Ensure safe, high-quality, and standardized products.
• Protect consumers and the environment.
• Prevent unfair trade practices.
• Improve manufacturing quality and attract investment.
• Align with the World Trade Organization Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) Agreement.

Legal Framework

• Issued under the BIS Act, 2016.
• Implemented as per the BIS (Conformity Assessment) Regulations, 2018.
• Violations may attract imprisonment, fines, or both.

Applicability

• Applies equally to domestic and imported products.
• Foreign manufacturers must obtain BIS Licence/Certificate of Conformity (CoC) under the Foreign Manufacturers Certification Scheme (FMCS).
• QCOs are generally WTO-compliant when imposed for: Public health and safety, Environmental protection, National security, Prevention of deceptive trade practices

Challenges

• High compliance costs, especially for
• Can act as Non-Tariff Barriers (NTBs) affecting imports.
• Limited coverage (~187 QCOs despite 23,000+ BIS standards).
• Delays in BIS certification affecting production.

Steps Taken by BIS

• Digitised certification process with 30-day time-bound approvals.
• Covers 750+ products online.
• Jan Sunwai: Online grievance and query portal.
• Manak Manthan: Field-level guidance and handholding support, especially for MSMEs.