Director General, Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), Sh. Pramod Kumar Tiwari said that standards lay down the benchmark for quality, thereby ensuring the availability of high-quality products for all the consumers. Addressing the media in New Delhi today, Shri Tiwari highlighted the importance of the Quality Control Orders (QCOs) issued recently by the Government of India for footwear and other products

DG, BIS said that QCO for the 24 footwear products covered under the Footwear made from leather and other materials and Footwear made from all polymeric and all rubber materials shall be implemented from 1st July 2023 and thereafter, a BIS Licence would be mandatory for the manufacturing, importing or selling of products under these QCOs. However, for 5 standards, which were revised recently, manufacturers, according to the revised specifications, shall be given a further six months’ time up to 1st January 2024 to comply. 

Sh. Tiwari said that the standards for footwear products are developed in consultation with trade and industry bodies, consumer organisations, and representatives of various other concerned stakeholder groups to ensure quality and authenticity.

He said that to make compliance convenient for the small-scale and micro-scale industries, the implementation date would be 1st January 2024 for the former and 1st July 2024 for the latter. He also informed that test facilities have been created in two BIS labs, two Footwear Design & Development Institute (FDDI) Labs and Central Leather Research Institute (CLRI), while 11 private labs have been recognised for testing footwear. Notably, the government recently announced an 80% cut on testing charges for footwear products under the QCOs for the certified start-ups and micro industrial units. 

DG, BIS also mentioned that the Ministry of Textiles had issued the Geo Textiles (Quality Control) Order, 2023, and Protective Textiles (Quality Control) Order, 2023, on 10 April 2023. He said that 19 Geo Textile products and 12 Protective Textile products are being brought under compulsory BIS certification w.e.f. 10th October 2023.

Sh. Tiwari stressed that the 'Public Call Facility', the latest initiative of BIS, is a proactive measure of BIS to make the process of standardisation more inclusive. He said that modern communication technologies are being leveraged to invite viewpoints, feedback, suggestions, etc., from all the stakeholders. For this purpose, a virtual interaction platform has been created that will be open on all working days from 10:00-11:00 AM. Any person can join the 'Public Call Facility' through the VC Link - https://tinyurl.com/PublicCF.

While discussing BIS's initiatives, Sh. Tiwari further informed that BIS has recently launched the Manak Rath, an online exchange forum for mentors and students of Standards Clubs. The initiative aims to nurture students as brand ambassadors of quality. The Manak Rath will be used to organise quiz, standard writing, and other competitions on science and quality subjects for the Standards Clubs students. 

Further, Manak Rath will provide a feature for an online classroom that will give access to lesson plans under the Learning Science via Standards initiative, informative videos, and live classrooms delivered by experts. 

Sh. Tiwari said that a section for interesting and informative articles has also been provided in Manak Rath for the continuous learning of students and mentors. Besides, students and mentors can also share their experiences with others through Manak Rath, which can be accessed through www.exchangeforum.bis.gov.in. He said that the Manak Rath also features a magnificent photo and video gallery of different activities.

The recently released BIS theme song 'Manak Geet' was also played during the press conference. 

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