Udyamee, Ahmedabad:
Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) is actively conducting market surveillance to ensure that consumer products available in the market, including on e-commerce platforms, comply with applicable safety and quality standards. As part of surveillance, BIS purchases various consumer products and subjects them to rigorous testing to verify compliance with the prescribed standards.
During its surveillance activities, BIS has identified that several non-certified products are being sold on e-commerce platforms such as Amazon, Flipkart, Meesho, Myntra, BigBasket even though BIS certification has been made mandatory for these products. Non-certified products include those that do not bear ISI Mark or bear an ISI Mark with an invalid license number (CM/L number). These non-certified products pose significant safety risks to consumers as they have not undergone independent third-party testing to ensure they meet minimum safety and performance standards.
The products under market surveillance include commonly used consumer goods such as domestic pressure cookers, hand-held blenders, food mixers, electric irons, room heaters, PVC cables, gas stoves, toys, two-wheeler helmets, switches, sockets, and aluminium foils for food packaging. Considering the potential hazards posed by substandard quality products, the Central Government has made BIS certification mandatory for these products in the public interest.
To curb the distribution of such non-compliant products through e-commerce platforms, BIS has carried out search and seizure operations at multiple warehouse locations of leading e-commerce platforms, including Amazon and Flipkart, in cities like Lucknow, Gurugram and Delhi. BIS’s investigations into multiple violations on both Amazon and Flipkart traced non-certified products back to Techvision International Pvt Ltd. Acting on this lead, BIS conducted raids at two different facilities of Techvision International in Delhi.
BIS urges consumers to make informed purchasing decisions by utilizing the BIS Care app. This app provides consumers with crucial information on products that require mandatory BIS certification and allows them to verify the authenticity of a product’s BIS certification by checking the ISI Mark and the manufacturer’s license number (CM/L). Additionally, consumers can use the BIS Care app to lodge complaints about products that do not bear the ISI Mark or report quality concerns regarding BIS-certified products.
