India Will Ban Low-Quality Imports From 2021; Chinese Imports Will Be Severely Impacted
As India starts the ‘Atma Nirbhar Bharat’ drive towards self-reliance, imports of many non-essential and sub-standard items will be restrained from March 2021.
Read on to find out more…
371 Quality Norms To Be Implemented On Imports By March 2021!
Minister of Consumer Affairs Ram Vilas Paswan said that after the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) is ready with the regulations prescribed by the Commerce Ministry for quality imports, many sub-standard and non-essential imports will be stopped from March 2021.
As per PTI reports, BIS is set to frame quality norms for 371 items by March 2021 which will range across many sectors like steel, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and electrical machinery to furniture and toys.
Different ministries like of the above-mentioned sectors mainly steel, petroleum and chemicals have been told to identify the products for making norms. Making standards is not necessary for some of the low-volume import items whereas there are already standards in place for other items.
BIS Director-General Pramod Kumar Tiwari further said that the identified tariff lines include Chinese products too and they are trying to frame standards and make them mandatory. He added that standards for some products will be made by December and the rest by March 2021.
Strict Surveillance For Imported Goods!
On the other hand, the BIS has stationed officers at major ports to keep a close watch on customs department in a bid to strengthen its surveillance system
The role of these officers is to take the market samples of the imported products and test them at the port itself.
Tiwari also said that the BIS is also making efforts to increase its surveillance visits at factories and markets to more than a lakh a year from the current 20,000 visits.
This week, the Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan launched the BIS mobile app and 2 portals on BIS certification and standards at the video conference. The minister said in a tweet that on the eBIS portal MANAKONLINE.IN, the process of standardisation is complete and the information regarding purity and regional BIS centres and offices have been uploaded.
Now do you think this development is going to be the start of a new era of the trade relations between India and China?