BIS makes license mandatory for 24 footwear products from 1st July

A BIS license will be mandatory for the manufacturing, importing or selling of products under these quality control orders.

The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) license will be mandatory for 24 footwear products from the 1st of July, 2023. The Director General of the BIS, Pramod Kumar Tiwari highlighted the importance of the Quality Control Orders issued recently by the government for footwear and other products.

Tiwari said that a BIS license will be mandatory for the manufacturing, importing or selling of products under these quality control orders. He said the standards for footwear products are developed in consultation with trade and industry bodies, consumer organisations and representatives of various stakeholder groups to ensure quality and authenticity.

The Director General said that in order to make compliance convenient for small-scale and micro-scale industries, the implementation date will be the 1st of January next year, adding that the government recently announced an 80 percent cut on testing charges for footwear products under the Quality Control Orders for the certified start-ups and micro industrial units.

Tiwari said that standards lay down the benchmark for quality, thereby ensuring the availability of high-quality products for all the consumers. However, for 5 standards, which were revised recently, manufacturers, according to the revised specifications, shall be given a further six months’ time up to 1st January 2024 to comply.

He said that the standards for footwear products are developed in consultation with trade and industry bodies, consumer organisations and representatives of various other concerned stakeholder groups to ensure quality and authenticity.

Tiwari said that to make compliance convenient for the small-scale and micro-scale industries, the implementation date would be 1st January 2024 for the former and 1st July 2024 for the latter. He also informed that test facilities have been created in two BIS labs, two Footwear Design & Development Institute (FDDI) Labs and Central Leather Research Institute (CLRI), while 11 private labs have been recognised for testing footwear.

Notably, the government recently announced an 80% cut on testing charges for footwear products under the QCOs for the certified start-ups and micro industrial units. He also mentioned that the Ministry of Textiles had issued the Geo Textiles (Quality Control) Order, 2023, and Protective Textiles (Quality Control) Order, 2023, on 10 April 2023. He said that 19 Geo Textile products and 12 Protective Textile products are being brought under compulsory BIS certification with effect from 10th October 2023.

The latest initiative of BIS is a proactive measure of BIS to make the process of standardization more inclusive. He said that modern communication technologies are being leveraged to invite viewpoints, feedback, suggestions, etc. from all the stakeholders.

The BIS has recently launched the Manak Rath, which is an online exchange forum for mentors and students of Standards Clubs. The initiative aims to nurture students as brand ambassadors of quality. The Manak Rath will be used to organise quiz, standard writing and other competitions on science and quality subjects for the Standards Clubs students.