It has been roughly a year since MEITY of the Indian government announced that a change to the BIS (CRS) surveillance process was impending. We now have reason to believe that this change will take effect sooner than later.
New Process
Surveillance is a mandatory part of the BIS (CRS) certification process. It is essentially taking samples of BIS registered products from the marketplace and re-testing them to ensure quality is being maintained by the manufacturer. The new BIS process puts Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) in charge of managing surveillance. It also requires manufacturers (i.e. brand owners/local representatives) to register an account on the new STPI portal, and deposit funds for upcoming surveillance activities carried out by STPI. For more information about the new process, see our blog post: New India Market Surveillance
Deadline
Although the STPI website indicates that the deadline for registering BIS R-number certifications is this coming Jan 31, it is quite possible that the deadline will be extended. Since the new process has been unveiled for over a year, and STPI just rolled out their new portal, we do anticipate that it will become mandatory soon.
Corrective Actions
It is unclear when BIS will begin to take action on unregistered manufacturers who have not paid the surveillance fee. It is also unclear at this point what repercussions (if any) will apply. As this change has not been widely advertised, particularly here in the States, it is our feeling that at some point BIS will simply refuse to to renew or make inclusions to existing BIS certifications. Assuming the new process will become mandatory, and that there will be repercussions for non-compliance, we are recommending customers or their local representative register on the new STPI portal soon to avoid unwanted holds on, or cancellations of BIS certifications.
If you haven’t already signed up for the new surveillance prior to the portal launch, navigating the registration process on the portal can be somewhat cumbersome. If you are in this position G&M can assist with “late” registrations.
For more information about STPI, you can visit their site at: https://crsbis.stpi.in/
For additional information about the new surveillance process, or assistance in registering on the portal, please contact G&M Compliance, Inc directly at 714-628-1020.
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