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Government considering relaxing certification norms for imports

The government is considering relaxing certification norms for some of the 133 imported products identified earlier for compulsory BIS certification.

"The Bureau of Indian Standards has forwarded a proposal to the Directorate General of Foreign Trade for relaxing certification norms for a small list of items, which are being used as raw materials for captive consumption on a continuous basis from pre-identified sources," official sources said.

Sources said the proposal being considered by the DGFT envisaged shifting these items from the Foreign Manufacturers Scheme to the Importers scheme.

The main objective is to reduce the time taken to obtain the certification and also prevent occurance of shortage of raw material on account of the delay in obtaining the licence from BIS, they said.

"At present the certification of the 133 items notified by the DGFT for import after BIS certification is being done under the FMS. This is causing problems as under the scheme the licence has to be applied for by the foreign manufacturer and not by the importer bringing the goods into India," they said.

Sources said these problems were more pronounced in cases where the goods were being used as a raw material by another industry.

"In such cases it makes no sense for the manufacturer of the raw material to obtain the licence as he will not be importing the item directly to India," they said.

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