Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal held a meeting in Delhi with key stakeholders from the electronics industry to deliberate on the implementation of horizontal Quality Control Orders (QCOs).

The meeting was aimed at strengthening consumer safety by ensuring better quality standards for electrical appliances across the country.

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It discussed the issues being faced by the Industry in the implementation of Horizontal QCO on “Safety of household, commercial and Similar Electrical Appliances” notified by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) last year.

Taking to his social media post, Minister Goyal described the interaction as “productive” and highlighted that discussions focused on the rollout of horizontal QCOs for electrical products.

Goyal said, “Had a productive interaction with key stakeholders from the electronics industry today. Discussions centred on the implementation of horizontal Quality Control Orders (QCOs) to further enhance the safety of electrical appliances in the interest of consumers. Also, explored opportunities for enhancing the industry’s growth and global competitiveness”.

Industry overwhelmingly supported the intent behind QCOs to ensure that only high-quality products are manufactured and sold in India. However, they requested for notifying QCOs on finished goods first followed by QCOs on components and raw materials, considering the complexity of global supply chains.

They also recommended mapping domestic manufacturing capacities and available technologies to align compliance timelines. A phased rollout was also proposed.

At the meeting, major concerns raised by the Industry included ambiguity as regards to coverage of DC Supplied Appliances and Battery-Operated appliances; non-availability of product manuals and test labs all 85 appliances included in the illustrative list; lack of certification by domestic manufacturers as well as foreign manufacturers.

Insufficient time available for getting the BIS certification for domestic as well as foreign manufacturers; addressing the issue of legacy stock and non-acceptance of non-BIS marked products on e-commerce platform were also highlighted.