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Centre makes Bureau of Indian Standard (BIS) certification mandatory for toys
Key highlights of the issue
- In order to make toys safe, the Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry had notified the Toys (Quality Control) Order, 2020, making it compulsory for toymakers to secure BIS certification.
- The use of BIS Standard Mark as per the BIS (Conformity Assessment) Regulations, 2018 is compulsory.
- The manufacturer has to seek a separate licence for each toy he produces, and the licence is issued after testing.
What is BIS certification?
- The BIS certification is given by Bureau of Indian Standard, the national standards body of India
- It is a means for providing third party guarantee of quality, safety and reliability of products to the customer.
- BIS Certification is voluntary in nature; however, the Government of India has made BIS certification mandatory for certain products taking into consideration public health.
- BIS Certification allows the licensees to use the popular ISI mark on their product, which is synonymous with quality products.
About BIS
- It is established by the Bureau of Indian Standards Act, 1986 which came into effect on 23 December 1986
- The BIS Act 2016, Rules and Regulations framed thereunder authorizes BIS to undertake conformity assessment of products, services, systems and processes.
- BIS has its Headquarters at New Delhi and its 05 Regional Offices (ROs) are at Kolkata (Eastern), Chennai (Southern), Mumbai (Western), Chandigarh (Northern) and Delhi (Central).
- It has been providing traceability and tangibility benefits to the national economy in a number of ways –
- providing safe reliable quality goods
- minimizing health hazards to consumers
- promoting exports and imports substitute
- control over proliferation of varieties etc. through standardization, certification and testing.
Source: The Hindu & BIS
