Fresh quality control order issued on steel products

The centre has issued a fresh quality control regime for 145 steel products. According to a gazette notification, the new notification supersedes the existing quality control regime (QCO) which covered 111 products from stainless steel pipes and tubes to primary cells and primary battery parts. Most of the quality control order, such as specification for Steel Wire for Staples, Pins and Clips is applicable from immediate effect.

It has been stated that any sub-standard or defective steel and steel product, which do not conform to the specified standard, shall be disposed as scrap.

The QCO covers products such as Steel Chequered Plates, Mild steel for metal arc welding electrodes, and Mild steel wire rods for general engineering purposes, among others.

Quality control on Galvanized Structural Steel is applicable three months from now. QCO on Hot-dip Zinc Coating on Structural Steel Bars for Concrete Reinforcement, Ferrochromium, and Silicomanganese is enforceable after six months.

In October last year, the Centre had made the Steel Ministry’s nod mandatory for imports which have not been cleared by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), a move aimed at a crackdown on substandard goods. It comes after the BIS issued a quality control order for a variety of steel products and importers were mandated by the Centre to seek prior quality approval of import consignments for sale locally.

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