The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has mandated licensing from July 1, 2023, for manufacturing, sale and import of 24 footwear products made under the QCOs (Quality Control Orders) for leather, rubber and other polymeric materials.

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However, a six-month compliance window, till January 1, 2024, will be given to manufacturers making footwear according to the five standards which have been revised recently. Stating that the standards for footwear products are developed in consultation with trade and industry bodies, consumer organisations and representatives of various other concerned stakeholders; Director General of BIS, Pramod Kumar Tiwari said that the decision is aimed at ensuring quality and authenticity of the manufactured products for consumer welfare.

To ensure convenience in compliance for small-scale and micro-scale industries, the implementation date has been kept as January 1, 2024, for the 24 footwear products and July 1, 2024, for the products being made as per the revised standards. Test facilities have been created in two BIS labs, two FDDI Labs and CLRI, while 11 private labs have been recognised for testing footwear. The government had recently announced an 80 percent cut on testing charges for footwear products under the QCOs for certified start-ups and micro industrial units.

On April 10, 2023, the Ministry of Textiles had issued the Geo Textiles (Quality Control) Order and the Protective Textiles (Quality Control) Order, under which 19 Geo Textile products and 12 Protective Textile products were brought under compulsory BIS certification.

The National Standards Body of India has also launched the 'Public Call Facility' to ensure that all voices are heard to make the process of standardisation more inclusive. Tiwari said, "We are leveraging modern communication technologies to invite viewpoints, feedback, suggestions etc., from all our stakeholders. A virtual interaction platform has been created that will be open on all working days, 10 AM to 11 AM, where anyone can join the public call facility through the VC Link: https://tinyurl.com/PublicCF."

(Edited by : Sangam Singh)

First Published:Jun 19, 2023 9:20 PM IST