BIS Certification for Electrical Accessories - QCO 2023 (Amended 2026)

The Electrical Accessories (Quality Control) Order, 2023 - notified as S.O. 43(E) on 1 January 2024 (Gazette published 3 January 2024) by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry (Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade) under Section 16 of the BIS Act, 2016 - makes BIS certification compulsory for the electrical accessories listed in its two tables. 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.

Let there be no ambiguity on the mandatory question: this is not a voluntary quality scheme. Once a QCO is in force, the notified products cannot be manufactured for sale, stocked, sold or imported in India without the ISI Mark under a valid licence - and every implementation date in this order has already passed.

The order was then amended by S.O. 187(E) on 13 January 2026, which removed one product - the IS 7809 (Part 3/Sec 1) insulating tapes entry - from Table-1. That leaves 7 notified products today: six in Table-1 and one (poly-laminated aluminium cable wrap) in Table-2 with its own, later date.

The order came into force in stages counted from its Gazette publication of 3 January 2024. Here are the exact dates, with zero ambiguity:

Read it plainly: since 3 July 2025, every product in this order - for every category of manufacturer, large, small or micro, Indian or foreign - requires a valid BIS licence and the ISI Mark. No transition window remains, no grace period, no turnover-based escape. If your product is on the list and unmarked, every consignment you move today is a live violation.

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

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

On 13 January 2026, the government notified the Electrical Accessories (Quality Control) Amendment Order, 2026 - S.O. 187(E). It did exactly one thing: it omitted the IS 7809 (Part 3/Sec 1):1986 entry - pressure-sensitive adhesive insulating tapes (plasticized PVC, non-thermosetting adhesive) - from Table-1 of the order.

What that means in practice: PVC insulating tapes are no longer covered by this QCO and no longer require mandatory BIS certification under it. The original order had eight products; today it has seven. Many websites still show the old eight-product list with tapes included - if a consultant quotes you a certification requirement for insulating tape under this order, they are quoting a provision that was deleted in January 2026.

This order is strict on exemptions. 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 only given later compliance dates (3 January 2025 and 3 October 2024 respectively), and both of those dates have now passed. Today the order applies with full force to every manufacturer, of every size, selling into India.

Certification is the law - but for serious manufacturers it is also a commercial upgrade:

• Legal market access: manufacture, stock, sell and import freely in India - no customs detention, no seizure risk.
• Buyer and tender qualification: electrical wholesalers, project contractors, utilities and government procurement all verify the CM/L licence before the price.
• Consumer trust: the ISI Mark is the most recognised quality mark in Indian electrical retail - it moves product off the shelf.
• Competitive moat: uncertified competitors - especially cheap imports - are now legally out of the market; certified early movers absorb their share.
• Longer licence stability: under the 2026 amendment to the BIS Conformity Assessment Regulations, licences now run up to 5 years, cutting renewal overhead dramatically.

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.

We keep this short here because we maintain dedicated step-by-step guides. In brief: map your product to the correct standard, prepare the factory and in-house testing, file the application in BIS format, clear the factory audit and sample drawal, pass independent lab testing, and receive your licence with its CM/L number. Indian manufacturers follow the domestic Scheme-I route - full detail on our BIS Certification for Indian Manufacturers page. Manufacturers outside India go through FMCS with an Authorized Indian Representative - full detail on our FMCS guide.

Average timeline: the official standard timeframe is about 30 days for a fully-prepared Indian application; realistically plan for a few weeks to a few months depending on lab queues and factory readiness. For foreign manufacturers under FMCS, the standard timeframe is about 180 days.

This changed recently, and most websites have not caught up. Under the BIS (Conformity Assessment) Amendment Regulations, 2026 - notified on 25 February 2026 - a Scheme-I licence is now granted for periods of up to 5 years (previously the initial grant was typically up to 2 years), and on expiry it can be renewed for a further period of up to 5 years.

The trade-off: the applicable licence fee is now payable annually in advance, together with your production statement. Miss the due date and the licence can be suspended for up to 90 days (with a late fee to restore it), and continued default triggers the cancellation provisions. In practice: renewals are rarer, but the annual fee-and-production deadline is now a hard compliance event. Renewal process: apply through the BIS Manakonline portal before expiry, with production details for the period and the fee for the renewal period opted - we manage the full cycle for our clients so nothing lapses.

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 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 - for a first offence, imprisonment up to two years or a fine of at least two lakh rupees, rising steeply for repeat offences.
• Loss of buyers and tenders - wholesalers, contractors, utilities and government procurement require the ISI Mark as a precondition.

This order spans wiring accessories, life-safety PPE and cable materials - each under its own Indian Standard with its own test regime, and the product list itself changed as recently as January 2026. We track every amendment, work across the entire order 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.