BIS cracks down on illegal Made in China toys selling at airport shops, malls

160 Chinese companies have applied for BIS certification, but none has got permission to export.

New Delhi, Jan 07: Cracking down on the illegal import of Chinese toys, the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) is carrying out countrywide raids at toy outlets at airports and malls.

The authorities have said that they will continue to crack down on the illegal import of Chinese toys all this month to check the substandard toys. Although 160 Chinese toy manufacturers have applied for BIS certification, not a single Chinese company has got permission to export toys to India.

"We had started the search at shops situated at Airports in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Bengaluru and other major airports across the country. We also conducted a search at several malls. This search will continue throughout this month," ANI quoted Pramod Kumar Tiwari, Director General BIS, as saying in a press conference on Friday.

The Director General stated that BIS has found substandard toys made in China during the raids and the preliminary investigation reveals that some elements are involved in smuggling substandard toys from China to India.

"Not a single Chinese company has a licence to import toys from China to India, nor any Chinese companies have applied for a license to import toys from China after India made it mandatory to take a licence from BIS to import toys from any country to India from January 1, 2021," Tiwari added.

He further claimed that cases have found that toys are being imported from China under the name of chocolates.

The BIS has urged people to immediately inform the BIS if they found any Made in China toys and promised to take action as per the law. BIS has given licences to 982 domestic manufacturers in India and only 29 licences were given to foreign manufacturers in majorly countries like Vietnam, Srilanka, Czeckoslavia etc. Out of 29 licences to foreign countries, Vietnam companies have 14 licenses, he added.