DPIIT working on quality control orders with BIS

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) is working on quality standards for several products, such as lighters, with a view to promote domestic manufacturing of quality goods, a senior official said Friday. These will also help in containing import of substandard goods. DPIIT joint secretary Sanjiv said the "aim is to promote production of high-quality products”.

The department is continuously engaged with the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) and the concerned stakeholders for the identification of products for which quality control orders (QCOs) could be issued. If a QCO is issued on a product, it must carry the quality certification mark of the BIS.

These orders are issued by the department in consonance with the World Trade Organization Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade, for industries falling under its domain. "QCOs are good for us, and we are not bringing this in a hurry. We want to handhold the industry," the official said.


Earlier, the department had rolled out QCOs for a host of goods such as household refrigerating appliances, certain steel and cable products, toys and bicycles' retro reflective devices.

INDIA RANKS FIFTH ON GQII
India has been ranked fifth among 184 countries in terms of its accreditation system, according to the Global Quality Infrastructure Index (GQII) 2021. The GQII ranks economies on the basis of their quality infrastructure (QI). India’s overall QI system ranking continues to be tenth. India was ranked 21st in metrology and ninth in standardisation. Germany topped the accreditation chart. It was followed by the US, China and Italy.