The Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals is enforcing mandatory BIS Standards for both imported and domestically produced chemicals, ensuring they meet stringent quality requirements.
The initiative, under Section 16 of the Bureau of Indian Standards Act, 2016, aims to prevent the use of hazardous and substandard products, protecting human, animal, and plant health, ensuring environmental safety, preventing unfair trade practices, and enhancing national security.
Till date, the department has notified seventy-two Quality Control Orders (QCOs) for chemicals and petrochemicals, with forty-one already implemented and the remaining ones enforcement dates extended as needed.
The ministry of agriculture and farmers’ welfare has notified the Insecticides Act, 1968, to regulate the import, manufacture, sale, transport, distribution, and use of insecticides, aiming to mitigate risks to humans and animals.
The ministry of environment, forest, and climate change has established the Manufacture, Storage, and Import of Hazardous Chemicals Rules, 1989 (MSIHC) and its amendments, defining hazard criteria like toxicity, flammability, and explosiveness for identifying hazardous industrial chemicals. Complementing these rules, the Chemical Accident Emergency Planning, Preparedness, and
Response Rules, 1996 (CAEPPR Rules, 1996) provide statutory support for crisis management with a four-tier system at the central, state, district, and local levels. In the fertilizer sector, the government has declared fertilizers as an essential commodity and issued the Fertilizer Control Order (FCO), 1985, to ensure farmers have access to high-quality fertilizers.
As reported by pib.gov.in, the FCO regulates the supply, distribution, and quality of fertilizers, specifying standards in respective schedules and prohibiting the sale of non-compliant products. Violations of the FCO can result in penal and administrative actions under the Essential Commodity Act and the FCO itself.
