Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) and Quality Control Orders
The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), established under the BIS Act, 2016, is India's national standards body operating under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs. BIS sets product standards (Indian Standards, IS) and operates certification schemes under which manufacturers must obtain a licence to use the ISI mark. Quality Control Orders (QCOs) issued under Section 16 of the BIS Act make BIS certification mandatory for specific products — meaning no person may manufacture, import, distribute, sell, or exhibit such products without the ISI mark. The Toys (Quality Control) Order, 2020 made BIS certification compulsory for all toys intended for children under 14, effective January 1, 2021.
- BIS operates under Scheme-I of its Conformity Assessment Regulations, 2018 for mandatory certification (ISI mark scheme).
- Violations of a QCO are punishable under the BIS Act, 2016, with fines and/or imprisonment.
- BIS conducts market and factory surveillance — drawing samples from stores and factories and testing in BIS-recognised labs.
- India has issued QCOs across over 600 product categories including electronics, steel, cement, footwear, and chemicals — a sharp expansion of mandatory certification post-2020.
- The toy QCO was partly motivated by concerns over cheap, unsafe imported toys (predominantly from China) that dominated the market before mandatory certification.
● Tracked since February 16, 2026 · last seen August 29, 2026 · updates as the daily brief publishes