Quality Control Orders

A Quality Control Order, or QCO, is a Central Government notification that makes compliance with a specified Indian Standard compulsory for identified goods, articles, processes, systems or services. It is issued under the Bureau of Indian Standards Act, 2016, converting an otherwise voluntary standard into a legally enforceable requirement for the notified category.

Statutory basis

Under Section 16, the Central Government may, after consulting BIS, notify a QCO when compulsory conformity is necessary in the public interest. Statutory grounds include health and safety, environmental protection, prevention of unfair trade practices and national security.

• The Central Government, usually through the concerned ministry or department, issues the order in the Official Gazette.
• BIS formulates standards and administers conformity assessment, but it does not itself issue the QCO.

How a QCO operates

The order identifies the covered products, the applicable Indian Standard, the conformity-assessment requirement and the date from which compliance becomes compulsory.

• Manufacturers must obtain a BIS licence or certificate of conformity and use the prescribed Standard Mark, where required by the order.
• Under Section 17, notified products cannot be manufactured, imported, distributed or sold without satisfying the applicable standard and marking requirements.
• A QCO normally applies to both domestically manufactured and imported products placed in the Indian market, subject to exemptions specified in the order.

Industrial-policy significance

QCOs seek to improve product reliability, consumer safety and manufacturing quality while preventing the sale of substandard goods. They can promote standardisation and competitiveness, but testing, certification and production upgrades may raise compliance costs, especially for MSMEs; adequate transition time and testing capacity are therefore important.