Quality control order for MSMEs: Notifying the Quality Control Orders (QCOs) for copper products and drums and tins, the commerce ministry on Monday said timelines for micro and small enterprises with respect to implementation of QCOs have been extended by an additional six months and three months respectively. The QCOs will be implemented on the expiry of six months from the date of their notification in the e-gazette.
The ministry noted that the objective of notifying QCOs is to enhance quality of the domestically manufactured products, curb the imports of sub-standard products into India, prevention of unfair trade practices for the protection of human, animal or plant health and safety of the environment.
“Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce & Industry consultation with Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) and stakeholders has been identifying key products for notifying Quality Control Order (QCO). This has led to the initiation of the development of more than 60 new QCOs covering 318 product standards. It includes 9 standards of Copper Products,” the statement said.
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The nine products included including copper wire rods for electrical applications, copper rods and bars for electrical purposes, copper strips for electrical purposes, wrought copper tubes for refrigeration and air-conditioning purposes and more.
In addition, seven standards for drums and tins were notified including large open-top drums, grade A drums, grade B steel drums, bitumen drums, square tins for solid products, etc. Overall, the development of more than 60 QCOs has been initiated covering 318 product standards.
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According to the release, these quality norms will improve the quality of Indian products, help small businesses and strengthen the value of Make in India. With the implementation of the QCOs, manufacturing, storing and sale of non-BIS certified products will be prohibited as per the BIS Act, 2016.
The violation of the provisions of the BIS Act would charge a penalty of Rs 2 lakh or imprisonment of up to two years for the first offence, and rise in the case of repetitive offence from a minimum of Rs 5 lakhs up to 10 times the value of goods or articles. Importantly, the notifications stated that these norms would not be applicable to goods manufactured domestically for export.