BIS Certification for Copper Products - QCO 2024

The Copper Products (Quality Control) Order, 2024 - notified as S.O. 1801(E) on 25 April 2024 by DPIIT, Ministry of Commerce and Industry - is the order that makes BIS certification compulsory for nine copper products sold or imported in India. Each product must conform to its own Indian Standard and carry the ISI Mark under a BIS licence granted per Scheme-I of Schedule-II of the BIS (Conformity Assessment) Regulations, 2018.

A detail worth knowing: this 2024 order superseded the original Copper Products (Quality Control) Order, 2023. In practical terms it acted as an extension - resetting the compliance clock and giving industry staged dates: 19 October 2024 for manufacturers in general, 19 January 2025 for Small Enterprises and 19 April 2025 for Micro Enterprises. All three dates have now passed, which means today the order applies with full force to every manufacturer of every size. If you are making or importing any of the nine products below without a licence, you are already out of compliance, not approaching a deadline.

Every product in the order's table has its own Indian Standard, its own test regime and its own licence. Click through for the dedicated guide to each:

Per the order's note, the latest version of each Indian Standard, including amendments notified by BIS from time to time, applies.

The Copper Products QCO is stricter on exemptions than many other quality control orders. There is essentially one exemption: goods manufactured domestically purely for export. There is no exemption for goods imported as a component of a finished product, and no small-unit turnover exemption - micro and small enterprises were simply given later compliance dates (19 April 2025 and 19 January 2025 respectively), and those dates have now passed. In other words, today the order applies with full force to every manufacturer, of every size, selling into India.

BIS expects documentation in three broad groups. Getting the format right is the single biggest cause of delay for first-time applicants, which is exactly the part we take off your plate:

• Administrative: company registration, factory licence, trademark proof, and - for foreign makers - the Authorized Indian Representative appointment.
• Technical: product drawings and specification, raw-material details, machinery list, in-house test equipment list, and the recognised-lab test report.
• Quality control: the quality manual, competent QC personnel details, and the process and quality-control flow for the product.

The route depends on where your factory is. Indian manufacturers follow the domestic Scheme-I process - sample testing, documentation and a factory assessment before the licence is granted (official standard timeframe is about 30 days for a fully-prepared file; realistically plan for a few weeks to a few months). The step-by-step is on our BIS Certification for Indian Manufacturers page. Manufacturers outside India go through FMCS with an Authorized Indian Representative and typically an overseas factory audit (standard timeframe about 180 days) - see our FMCS guide.

Once the licence is granted, BIS issues a unique licence number (the CM/L number). The ISI Mark together with that CM/L number must be applied to the product and its packaging in the manner the standard prescribes - it is what lets a buyer, an inspector or a tender authority verify the certificate is genuine. Selling a notified copper product that carries no mark, or a mark without a valid licence behind it, is treated as non-compliance.

The Bureau of Indian Standards is the certifying and enforcing authority for this product, and non-compliance is dealt with under the BIS Act, 2016:

• Seizure of stock from the factory, warehouse or distribution chain.
• Customs detention of imported consignments that arrive without a valid licence and marking.
• Fines and imprisonment as provided under the BIS Act, 2016, for manufacturing, importing or selling without certification.
• Loss of tenders and contracts, since government, PSU and serious private buyers require the ISI Mark as a precondition.

Copper products span nine notified items - wire rods, rods and bars, strip, wires and four distinct tube categories - each under its own Indian Standard with its own test regime. We work across the entire Copper Products QCO as specialists, prepare every document to exact BIS format, and coordinate lab testing and the factory assessment so your file keeps moving - whether your plant is in India or overseas.