BIS registration certificate is mandatory for 49 electrical and electronic products falling under compulsory registration Scheme of BIS. Use of non-compliant product is illegal as they have not undergone the prescribed tests for safety according to notified Indian Standards. No person is supposed to manufacture or store for sale, import, sell or distribute goods which do not confirm to the Indian standard specified in the scheme and do not bear the Standard Mark with unique registration number received from BIS. There can be a strict legal action against such offences.
For import, we can expect customs to act as a check point of BIS standard mark on imported products, falling under Compulsory registration Scheme. But what about Indian manufacturers? Who is going to check BIS conformity of their products? Well, for that BIS have bought their Market Surveillance activity from papers to action. As per reports, on 21st January 2020, a raid was conducted at a manufacturing unit in Pallikaranai, Chennai. The manufacturing unit was found to be using the BIS registration mark without a license. As a result, 1000 LED lights including tube lights, multi-purpose LED lights, indoor and outdoor panel lights, streetlights and floodlights were seized for violating the BIS Act.
As per BIS officials this was the first time that a raid like this was conducted on an electrical product manufacturing unit. With an action like this, BIS has made it very clear that they are quite serious about implementation of their compulsory registration scheme and any violation of the act will not be ignored. Market Surveillance is an important activity for confirming consumer safety and restoring the trust of industry on Compulsory registration Scheme and BIS has already started their action on the same. However, only the time will tell that how many such raids will be conducted in future but as of now, news like this have surely bought a sense of relief for Indian manufacturers who have taken BIS certificate for their products by investing the time and money.
