NEW DELHI, Jan 12: The consumer protection regulator has issued notices to Amazon, Flipkart and Snapdeal for the alleged sale of toys without BIS quality mark, Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) chief Nidhi Khare said on Thursday.
The notices were issued after the seizure last month of over 18,600 toys pan-India from 25 retail stores, including Hamleys and Archies, for lack of Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) quality mark. “Toys are under Mandatory Certification Scheme of BIS through Quality Control Order and cannot be manufactured, sold, imported or distributed without bearing the ISI Mark,” the Bureau of Indian Standards said in a tweet.
The Toys (Quality Control) Order that made BIS certification mandatory for toys came into effect in January 2021 to prevent the sale of cheap quality goods in the market. Officials of the BIS had said most toys, including electric and non-electric, such as dolls and slides, should carry ISI mark.
“We received complaints from domestic manufacturers of sale of toys that do not conform with the BIS standard. We conducted 44 raids in the last month and seized 18,600 toys from major retail stores,” BIS Director General Pramod Kumar Tiwari said in a press conference.
The raids were conducted at retail stores, including those of Hamleys, Archies, WH Smith, Kids Zone and Cococart located at major airports and malls across the country, he said. A legal action would be taken against retailers as per the provisions under the BIS Act, Tiwari said.
There are different standards formulated, including safety aspects related to physical and mechanical properties of toys like sharp edges, flammability and transfer of toxic elements and test methods for finger paints. Besides domestic manufacturers, the order applied to imported toys and foreign manufacturers who too have to obtain BIS certification for their products.
Though it was initially introduced in 2020, it came into effect only in 2021 and sufficient time was given to manufacturers and traders to clear old stock and manufacture toy products with ISI-mark, officials had said earlier.
(Manas Dasgupta)