How To Get A BIS Certificate For IT products

Bureau Of Indian Standard, abbreviated as BIS, is a department of Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food, and Public Distribution, which is a ministry responsible for the examination of a line of products, in order to check if they are up to the mark and fit for the consumer. It is a successor of the former ISI (Indian Standards Institution). Remember those ISI marks that used to be on the label of your packaged water bottle, the very same. Obtaining the certification is not mandatory for all the products that are there.

Keeping in view, the interest of consumers as well as the industry, BIS is involved in various activities as given below:

• Standards Formulation
• Product Certification Scheme
• Compulsory Registration Scheme
• Foreign Manufacturers Certification Scheme
• Hall Marking Scheme
• Laboratory Services
• Laboratory Recognition Scheme
• Sale of Indian Standards
• Consumer Affairs Activities
• Promotional Activities
• Training Services, National & International level
• Information Service

IT equipment comes under Scheme II of the BIS, also called as the Registration scheme.

As per the Order, no person shall manufacture or store for sale, import, sell or distribute goods which do not conform to the Indian Standard specified in the Order. Manufacturers of these products are required to apply for registration from Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) after getting their product tested from BIS recognized labs.

Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) then registers the manufacturers under its registration scheme who are permitted to declare that their articles conform to the Indian Standard (s). The registered manufacturers are then allowed to use the Standard Mark notified by the Bureau.

In total, there are about 1500 standards set on IT products  which range from durability of  the product, to the power consumed by it.

So here is the procedure to obtain a BIS certification:

(a) Submit a sample of the product with an approved or recognized BIS testing laboratory in India to get the product tested along with the required laboratory fees. The fees can vary according to the product under consideration.

b) The testing process typically takes a month’s time to get completed. After the thorough examination of the product to check its suitability for the consumer, the laboratory issues the Test Report. In the case of non-conformity to the prescribed standard, the lab will issue a non-conformity report.

c) This test report along with other required documents need to be submitted along with the application Form-VI (for BIS Registration) and Form-V (for ISI Registration) to the regional office of the Bureau. The required application fees need to be remitted too along with the form, which are also mentioned in the official government website. The fees are usually greater than those required for electronic goods.

d) The next step is where BIS officials visit the factory for physical verification. The purpose is to check the manufacturing process and Quality-Control process of the unit. The officers can pick up random samples from the factory and those samples are sent for further testing. This keeps the manufacturers on their toes.

e) In the final step, after all the documents have been submitted and the BIS officers are done with the manual scrutiny of the factory, all the documents and reports go through a final check-up (to check if there was any glitch in the whole process), before the official certificate is issued. Once the approval is received the Government fee needs to be deposited to receive the certificate. It is advisable to seek expert help from BIS certifying agents so that they can handle the entire process and guide on the requisite fees required to be paid. ISI Mark registration fees and the BIS Certification costs differ from product to product.

f) In case of non-conformity (step (b)), the process or the product needs to be rectified and the rectification report needs to be submitted along with the Government fees or the annual marking fees (in case of ISI Certification). On satisfactory submission, the Bureau will issue the relevant certificate.

Following are the documents that need to be submitted to the bureau:

1. Technical specifications of the product – the drawing of the product, components and raw material details, user manual, Critical component list.
2. Factory related documents that include
   • Company registration certificate. For SSI, relevant Registration certificate.
   • Trade Mark Registration.
   • Detailed flow chart of the manufacturing process
   • Detailed list of manufacturing machines – name, their purpose, capacity etc.
   • In case certain processes are outsourced, the details and quality control documents related to the same.
   • List of internal testing facilities clearly mentioning details of the calibration status, the least count etc. Calibration certificates of the testing equipment that should not be more than 3 months old.
   • Plant layout
   • Packing and storage details
   • Organization chart of the factory
   • Location map
   • Details of the Quality control team and their qualification certificates.
   • Test report copies for each raw material and part.
   • Authorization from CEO in case of an authorized signatory and in case of foreign manufacturers, details of Indian Representative.
   • Original Test report from BIS Approved Laboratory.

As you can guess, the BIS is quite serious about its work. Only the goods which are up to the mark reach the consumer, unless the process is “corrupted”. You know what I mean.