BIS issues notice to e-commerce firms for selling non-standard pressure cookers

Going to buy household items like a pressure cooker? Be careful if you want to place your order from an e-commerce site and many of them are selling such household items in violation of the standards prescribed by the government.

The Consumer protection body in India, the Central Consumer Protection Authority, has issued a safety notice to the consumers in this regard.

According to the safety notice, buyers of household items have been advised not to buy any such item which does not have an ISI mark on it.

Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution says, “To protect consumers from the risk of suffering injury and harm and ensure required safety & technical standards are followed, Central Government is empowered to direct conformity to standard and compulsory use of standard mark under Section 16 of BIS Act. These directions are generally published in form of Quality Control Orders (QCO).”

It adds, “CCPA has also taken suo-moto action against e-commerce entities and sellers who were found to be selling pressure cookers in violation to compulsory standards online. 15 Notices have already been issued with respect to such violations. The cases have also been forwarded to BIS for taking necessary action under the BIS Act, 2016. BIS has also issued 3 notices for violation of QCO of domestic pressure cookers and 2 notices for violation of QCO for helmets.”

The law prohibits any person to manufacture, import, distribute, sell, hire, lease, store or exhibit for sale any such goods or article for which direction of compulsory use of Standard Mark has been published by the Central Government under Section 16.