Govt notifies quality control orders for smart meters, welding rods and electrodes

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The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), under the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, notified two new quality control orders (QCOs) for ‘smart meters’ and ‘welding rods and electrodes’, on July 14. The QCOs will come into force six months from the date of notification.

The smart meters (quality control) order, 2023 mandates compulsory certification under IS Standards for “AC static direct connected watt hour smart meter class 1 and 2” and “AC static transformer operated watthour and var-hour smart meters, class 0.2s, 0.5s, and 1.0s” for products manufactured for the domestic market or imported into India.

A smart meter is an electronic device that records information such as consumption of electric energy, voltage levels, current, and power factor. They share the information with the consumer for greater clarity on consumption behaviour and with electricity suppliers to help them with system monitoring and customer billing.

The welding rods and electrodes (quality control) order 2023 makes it compulsory to certify “covered electrodes for manual metal arc welding of carbon and carbon manganese steel”, and “welding rods and bare electrodes for gas shielded arc welding of structural steel”, under IS Standards, for both products manufactured for the domestic market and products imported into India.

Welding Rods are used in shielded metal arc welding (SMAW), also known as stick welding. The rod has two purposes: to provide filler metal to the workpiece and to conduct electric current to the arc. Further, welding electrodes are metal wires baked on chemical coatings. The coating protects the metal from damage, stabilises the arc, and improves the weld.

The DPIIT, in consultation with the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) and stakeholders, has been identifying key products requiring the implementation of QCO. This has led to the initiation of development of 64 new QCOs covering 317 product standards. It is focusing on establishing a quality control regime for its main products such as insulated flasks, potable water bottles, flame-lighters, smart meters, wielding rods and electrodes, etc.

Notably, a QCO is a mandatory certification scheme, whereby compliance to a specified list of Indian standards applicable to the product concerned is made compulsory by the central government under various considerations including public interest, protection of human, animal, or plant health, safety of environment, prevention of unfair trade practices and national security.

With the implementation of the QCOs, manufacturing, storing, and sale of non-BIS-certified products will be prohibited as per the BIS Act, 2016. The violation of the provision of the BIS Act can attract a penalty of imprisonment of up to two years or a fine of at least Rs 2 lakh for the first offence. In case of second and subsequent offences, the fine will increase to Rs 5 lakh minimum and extend up to 10 times the value of goods or articles.