India's Regulations on Imported Chemicals took effect on October 1, 2023. Originally, the regulation was set to take effect on July 1, 2023, but was delayed until October 1. On September 30, 2023, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs in India issued Circular No.23/2023, which made the following modifications to sections (4.1) and (4.2) of Circular No.15/2023:

On September 13, India made the significant decision that it will enforce stringent quality regulations on various goods. This announcement will be published in the Gazette of India within four months after the conclusion of the WTO technical barriers to trade (TBT) consultation process. The announcement was made in accordance with the Bureau of Indian Standards Act (11 of 2016), and the Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals under the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers in India.

Recently, India made the significant decision that it will enforce stringent quality control orders (QCOs) on Polypropylene (PP) materials for molding and extrusion as well as polyvinyl chloride (PVC) homopolymers. In accordance with the latest QCO, PP and PVC should be included in the BIS mandatory certification list, to ensure that domestically produced and imported PP and PVC products meet stringent requirements and offer consumers safer and more reliable products.

On July 21, 2023, the Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals (DCPC) in India announced the delay of the Quality Control Order (QCO) for the following ten substances.

India’s Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs published Circular No.15/2023-Customs in which mandatory additional qualifiers in import/export declarations shall be made such as scientific names, IUPAC names, brand names as applicable, to aid in reducing queries and improve the efficiency of assessment. The Shipping Bill (Electronic Integrated Declaration and Paperless Processing) Regulations 2019 was scheduled to be implemented on July 1, 2023, and has been postponed until October 1, 2023, because of strong opposition from the chemical industry.

Statistics indicate that the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) in India has reinforced the scrutiny of imported goods in the first quarter of this year. Products from several enterprises exporting chemicals to India have been detained because of the absence of the mandatory BIS certificate. In the following article, we summarize the latest BIS lists and their corresponding implementation timelines (as of March 2023). All products in the List under Mandatory Certification must obtain relevant certificates from the Bureau of India Standards (BIS) before they are introduced to the Indian market.

The ICSCs are developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the ILO with European Commission cooperation. It aims at safeguarding the occupational safety and health of workers. The ICSCs consist of special data sheets that provide basic information on the safety of chemicals and their influence on health at workplace. Moreover, information provided on the cards also includes the UN Globally Harmonized System (GHS) of classification and labelling of chemicals. The information will be regularly updated so that information in the cards can be the most up-to-date. Currently there are 1784 ICSCs available in the database.

Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) is receiving comments on draft standard “ready mixed paint, air drying, red oxide-zinc chrome painting-specification” until 11 May 2022. This Draft has extended the limit of lead restriction in household coatings to industrial applications. To prevent lead exposure of children and adults and consequent adverse impact on human health and safety and because of further scope for children’s exposure to the dried paint surfaces, the lead restriction up to a maximum permissible limit of 90 ppm was prescribed.

India has submitted several TBT notifications to WTO and intends to list several chemical substances into the Mandatory Certification List at the end of 2021. It is estimated that the official act will be promulgated in the second quarter of 2022 and will take effect in six months from the date of promulgation. BIS (Bureau of Indian Standards) is a quality management organization in India and it plays an important role in granting quality certification and industry standard for products sold and distributed in India. The BIS product certification system aims to guarantee the quality, stability, and reliability of products, including some chemicals.

In December 2021, India Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) had issued several circulars to extend the implementation dates of mandatory BIS certifications for several chemicals. Details are listed as follows.