- A prescribed application form is available from BIS Headquarters as well as its Regional and Branch Offices located all over the country and can be obtained from any of the office of the Bureau. At present, there is no fee for such an application form.
- Application on the prescribed form duly completed with requisite fee, which is at present Rs.500/-, in the form of a demand draft drawn in favour of the Bureau of Indian Standards, payable at a place where the application is to be submitted, may be sent to the respective office of the Bureau for receipt, acknowledgement and further necessary action.
- One application form is valid only for one product and one Indian Standard Specification. For each Indian Standard and each product, a separate application with requisite fee may be submitted to the Bureau.
- Each application under the scheme of Ecomark shall be accompanied with a copy each of the following documents :
- Consent/environmental clearance certificate from the concerned State Pollution Control Board.
- Small-scale industries registration certificate if the application is from a small-scale unit who desires to avail the concessional rate of marking fee for the unit for the small-scale sector. This certificate may be issued either by the office of the Development Commissioner, Small-scale Industries, or Industries Department of the concerned State Government.
- On receipt of the completed application form, the Bureau arranges a preliminary inspection of the unit of the applicant on a mutually convenient date for preliminary inspection and assessment of the manufacturing and quality control facilities and availability of testing personnel with the applicant for satisfactory operation of BIS Certification Mark Scheme for a product for which the application has been submitted to the Bureau.
- The inspection officers of the Bureau draw samples for factory testing and independent testing for assessing the conformity of the product with requirements given in the specification including the requirements for Ecomark.
- The applicant is given a copy of the Scheme of Testing and Inspection (STI) which is required to be followed by the unit in the production for the product covered under the application. The applicant is to give formal consent in writing regarding acceptance of the STI and also the marking fee payable for the product.
- The charges for inspection and testing of samples in independent laboratory shall be paid by the applicant.
- The preliminary inspection (PI) report, independent test reports of samples drawn during PI and acceptance of STI and marking fee schedule are verified at appropriate level within the Bureau. In case all documents are complete and found satisfactory, a licence is granted by the competitive authority of the Bureau permitting the unit to use the standard mark of the Bureau for a specified period.
- In case a unit is already holding a BIS certification mark licence for a product and wishes to cover that product under the Scheme of Ecomark, separate application is not required to be submitted. In such a case, the unit may make a specific request to the respective office of the Bureau which will take steps to include the criteria for Ecomark on the product as per the existing provision for inclusion of new varieties/grades in the same licence. In such cases, however, the licensee has to accept the modified STI and revised rate of marking fee, wherever applicable.
- Under the Scheme of Ecomark, the Standard Mark of the Bureau shall be single mark being a combination of the ISI Mark and the Eco-logo.
- The licence is granted initially for the period of one year which is renewable for a period of two years at a time subsequently on the basis of performance of the unit in the preceding year(s).
- The minimum marking fee applicable to the product and accepted by the applicant is payable to the Bureau in advance after the grant of licence but before initiation of the marking on the product. On calculation of the marking fee payable at the end of the year, the calculated amount alongwith minimum marking fee is required to be paid to the Bureau by the applicant along-with his request for renewal of the licence for further period.
- During the period of validity of licence granted to a unit, the Bureau arranges a periodic unannounced visits to the manufacturing premises of the licensee to assess the operation of the BIS Certification Mark Scheme for the product. During the visit by BIS officer, samples are drawn for testing both in the factory as well as for independent testing. Samples are also drawn from the factory and tested in independent laboratory to verify conformity of the product in accordance with the requirements specified in the relevant Indian Standard.
- The feedback received from consumer forums/organisations are also taken into account for assessing the performance of the licensee. If BIS officers observe deviations from the requirements of the standard and the scheme of testing and inspection, the same is brought to the notice of the authorised representative of the licensee to take corrective measures. In case of discrepancy of a serious nature/non-compliance with the provision of the grant of the licence, appropriate action as provided under the Bureau of Standards Act, 1986 Rules and relevant Regulations framed thereunder, are taken.
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