Centre pushes quality control on copper, nickel, and aluminium ahead by six months
quality control orders (QCO) on nickel, copper, and aluminium by six months. The initial date for quality control orders to kick in was December 1, 2023.
It has now been pushed ahead to June 1, 2024. QCO curbs are put in place to prevent substandard import and sale of products.
A call on imposing these regulations was taken on August 31 this year.
“The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) are formulated in the country but they are not made mandatory. This allows industries to sell products complying with different parameters or not apply for BIS certification,” a senior government official told ET while explaining the rationale for extending the quality control norms.
ET had reported in September this year that first few months of QC enforcement could lead to supply disruptions.
Standard for Aluminium, Nickel and Copper were in place for a while but they are being made mandatory just now.
“People suddenly woke up when the enforcement of standards was announced.
There have been representations from 64 domestic companies in the case of aluminium that they have sought BIS certification which is pending approval,” the official quoted above said while adding that “since copper is largely an imported commodity, there were representations from companies in Malaysia, and Japan among others to seek more time.”
Consultations have been undertaken with primary, secondary, and tertiary producers, along with consumers such as the automobile sector before the deferment call was taken. Inter-ministerial consultations also took place where the BIS itself supported the move of giving a six month extension to the QCO implementation.
The QC order covered copper, roughly half of India’s demand for which is met through imports.
