The Indian government has deferred implementation of mandatory quality control orders (QCOs) for certain steel products imported into the country, according to an official notification issued on Monday, July 14.
In a notification issued last month, the government had said that, in terms of QCOs, all steel products or inputs for making steel, in form of raw materials, semi-finished or finished steel would have to mandatorily adhere to respective standards laid down by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS).
This would be effective for imports having a bill of lading date of June 16.
"The mandatory adherence requirement of input steel for imports of steel products for bills of lading having a shipped-on-board date on or before July 15 shall be exempted from compliance with respective QCOs," the steel ministry said in a clarification.
The deferment addresses concerns raised by micro, small and medium enterprises, which had expressed difficulty in meeting the compliance requirements within the originally prescribed timeframe.
Industry stakeholders had indicated that the short notice period posed operational challenges for smaller businesses attempting to align their import processes with the new quality standards.
