Import a container of LED bulbs, power banks or Bluetooth speakers without checking one government list, and customs can hold the lot while marketplaces delist you: the Compulsory Registration Scheme (CRS) under BIS. For a growing list of electronic products, sale in India is illegal unless the product is tested in a BIS-recognised lab and registered — with the standard mark printed on every unit. Here is how the scheme works for manufacturers, importers and sellers.
Is your product on the list?
- CRS covers electronics notified under the Electronics & IT Goods (Compulsory Registration) Order — now dozens of categories: LED lighting, mobile/power banks and adapters, IT hardware (laptops, tablets, monitors), TVs, speakers/wireless devices, CCTV, smart watches, and more, each mapped to an Indian Standard (largely IS 13252/IEC 60950-family and successors)
- The list grows by notification — check MeitY/BIS's current schedule before every new product line
- Separate regimes exist alongside: ISI marking (different scheme) for other product classes, WPC/ETA approval for wireless frequencies, and BEE star labelling for energy — one gadget can need three approvals
The registration attaches to manufacturer + factory + product/model — not to the importer or brand alone. That detail drives everything below.
The process: test, register, mark
(1) Sample testing: the specific model, from the specific factory, is tested against its IS standard in a BIS-recognised lab (India-based; foreign factories ship samples in). (2) Registration application: on the BIS portal with the test report (validity windows apply — file promptly), factory details, brand/model declarations, and an Indian representative (AIR) where the manufacturer is foreign. (3) Grant: the registration number (R-XXXXXXXX) issues, typically valid two years, renewable. (4) Marking: the standard mark with the R-number on product, packaging and (per rules) e-commerce listings. Timelines run several weeks — sample logistics and lab queues dominate. Series/families can leverage grouping guidelines; a new model or a new factory generally means a new registration.
The registration belongs to the manufacturing factory. Switch your Chinese supplier — same product, new factory — and the old R-number is invalid for the new stock. Importers must verify their exact factory's registration (BIS's public database) before every PO, and beware traders quoting someone else's R-number.
Selling compliantly: duties along the chain
- Manufacturers/AIRs: keep registrations current, renew ahead of expiry, mark correctly, and honour surveillance sampling
- Importers: check the registration at PO stage; customs clearance for CRS goods increasingly requires the R-number mapping to your consignment
- Sellers/marketplaces: listing CRS products without the mark/number invites delisting and enforcement — portals now audit categories proactively
- Everyone: no mark, no sale — stock acquired unregistered has no lawful retail path; factor it into supplier contracts and returns clauses
Penalties and enforcement mood
The BIS Act arms enforcement with search-seizure powers, fines that scale (including turnover-linked provisions for serious cases) and imprisonment provisions for selling non-conforming or unregistered notified goods. Practical enforcement runs through customs holds, marketplace delistings, and market surveillance purchases that trigger factory-level consequences. The commercial damage — a festival season's stock stuck in a bonded warehouse — usually dwarfs the legal fine. Compliance, by contrast, is a known, modest, calendar-driven cost.
How Aidwish helps
Aidwish manages CRS pipelines for importers and brands — product-to-standard mapping, lab coordination, AIR arrangements for foreign factories, registration and renewals, and supplier-contract clauses that make the factory's compliance your contractual right.