The Union Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Shri Ashwini Kumar Choubey in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today informed that the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has granted 630 licenses to MSME toy manufacturers as on 28.03.2022.

Out of the 661 licenses granted by BIS to domestic toy manufacturers, 630 license i.e. 95% of licenses have been granted to MSME toy manufacturers.

Safety of Toys is under compulsory BIS certification from 01 Jan 2021 as per the Toys (Quality Control) Order (QCO), 2020 issued by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry (Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade) under Section 16 of the BIS Act, 2016.

Accordingly, it is mandatory for Toys to conform to Indian Standards for Safety of Toys and bear the Standard Mark (ISI Mark) under a license from BIS as per Scheme-I of Schedule-II of BIS (Conformity Assessment) Regulations, 2018. As per this QCO, read with Section 17 of the BIS Act, 2016: No person shall manufacture, import, distribute, sell, hire, lease, store or exhibit for sale any toys without the ISI mark.

Sellers, including retailers, are responsible for ensuring that only toys carrying the Standard Mark are purchased from toy manufacturers holding valid BIS license, and sold.

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AM/NS