BIS Licence Mandatory for 24 Footwear Products from July ’23
The move aims to ensure quality footwear for Citizens: Pramod Kumar Tiwari, DG, BIS
BIS launches Online Exchange Forum – Manak Rath, a platform for students and mentors
19.06.2023 | New Delhi: The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), the National Standards Body of India, organised a press conference at its headquarters office in New Delhi today to brief the media on matters related to the recent Quality Control Orders (QCOs) issued by the Government of India for footwear and other products. Sh. Pramod Kumar Tiwari, Director General, BIS, briefed the press about the details and significance of the QCOs.
Addressing the media, the Director General informed that 24 footwear products covered under the Footwear made from leather and other materials QCO and Footwear made from all polymeric and all rubber materials QCO shall be implemented from 1st July 2023 and thereafter a BIS Licence would be mandatory for the manufacturing, importing or selling of products under these QCOs. However, for 5 standards which have been revised recently, manufacturers making these footwear according to the revised specifications shall be given further six months’ time up to 1st January 2024 to comply.
“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 for consumer welfare,” added Sh. Tiwari.
It was also informed that to make compliance more convenient in this case 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 FDDI Labs, and 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.
While answering a query on Textile QCOs, the Director General informed 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. “19 Geo Textile products and 12 Protective Textile products are being brought under compulsory BIS certification w.e.f. 10th October 2023,” stated Sh. Tiwari.
While discussing BIS’s initiatives, the Director General further informed that the bureau has recently launched the Manak Rath, an online exchange forum for mentors and students of Standards Clubs. The initiative aims to nurture the 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. Further, Manak Rath will provide a feature for an online classroom that will give access to lesson plans under the Learning Science via Standards initiative, informative videos and live classrooms delivered by experts.
“A section for interesting and informative articles is also provided on Manak Rath for the continuous learning of students and mentors. Besides, students and mentors can also share their experiences with others through Manak Rath, which can be accessed through www.exchangeforum.bis.gov.in. Our Manak Rath becomes more beautiful with a magnificent photo and video gallery of different activities,” added Sh. Tiwari.
Referring to the ‘Public Call Facility’, the latest initiative of BIS, the Director General informed that the platform is a proactive measure of BIS to ensure all voices are heard to make the process of standardisation more inclusive. “We are leveraging modern communication technologies to invite viewpoints, feedback, suggestion etc., from all our stakeholders. For this purpose, a virtual interaction platform has been created that will be open on all working days, 10:00 am to 11:00 am,” added Sh. Tiwari. Any person can join public call facility through the VC Link – https://tinyurl.com/PublicCF
The recently released BIS theme song ‘Manak Geet’, was also played for the audience gathered.
