Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan on August 21 said imported toys will be allowed to enter India only after complying with the mandatory quality norms from September 1 onwards. The government is in the process of making quality standards mandatory for 371 tariff lines ranging from steel, chemicals, pharmaceuticals and electrical machinery to furniture to check shipments of sub-standard and non-essential goods, including from China.
Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) is the government's nodal agency that frames quality standards in coordination with the concerned ministries.
"The mandatory quality control standard (QCS) for toys will be implemented from September 1 onwards. BIS staff will be deployed at major ports to take the sample and test the product for quality," Paswan told reporters.
Besides toys, the QCS for steel, chemicals, electronic goods and heavy machinery as well as for food items like packaged water and milk products are in the process, he said.
According to BIS Director General Pramod Kumar Tiwari, the implementation of the QCS for each product is being decided by the concerned ministry. For instance, the mandatory gold standard will come into force from June 2021.
So far, 268 standards have been mandatory in the country and many are in the pipeline, he added.
Tiwari said that BIS staff will be posted at major ports to take the sample and test the product at the port itself. The shipments will not be stopped.
He said quality check is done at two levels. One is at the source itself, wherein BIS officials go for physical inspection of a factory location from where the imported product is sourced abroad. The second level of quality check is done after the shipment lands here.
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