BIS certification: which scheme applies to your product

BIS certification is not one thing. It is several schemes, and the first job on any enquiry is working out which one your product falls under.

Identify the standard first

Every product covered by BIS maps to an applicable Indian Standard. Until that is identified, nothing else can be assessed — not the documents, not the testing, not the timeline. This is the step people skip when they try to shortcut the process.

Then the scheme

ISI / Product Certification Scheme is the familiar one, covering domestic manufacturers of notified products.

CRS — Compulsory Registration Scheme — covers a different set of notified products, largely electronics and IT goods.

FMCS covers foreign manufacturers, and adds an AIR nomination and legalised documents to the requirements.

Hallmarking applies to precious metal articles.

Whether certification is compulsory at all depends on whether your product is notified. Some businesses pursue voluntary certification for commercial reasons instead.

What gets assessed

Once the scheme is confirmed, the BIS product manual, the Scheme of Inspection and Testing, grouping guidelines, lab requirements and the marking fee all have to be checked against your product and factory.

The documentation is substantial: factory address proof and layout, a manufacturing process flow chart, machinery and testing equipment lists, quality control personnel details, product technical specifications with model and variety details, and test reports from a BIS or BIS-recognised lab. If the brand owner and the manufacturer are different entities, brand authorisation as well.

Timelines

BIS indicates that Product Certification Scheme-I may take around one month under option 2, and around four months under option 1, from a complete application. In practice, inspection scheduling and test turnaround move that. Treat any figure as an estimate.

After the grant

The licence or marking fee is paid after the grant decision, and there are marking conditions attached to how you may use the mark. Getting those wrong after all that work is an avoidable own goal, so make sure whoever handles your application explains them.