BIS Certification for Copper & Copper Products - QCO 2024 (Amended 2026)

The Copper Products (Quality Control) Order, 2024 - notified as S.O. 1801(E) on 25 April 2024 by DPIIT, Ministry of Commerce and Industry - is the order that makes BIS certification compulsory for nine copper products sold or imported in India. Each product must conform to its own Indian Standard and carry the ISI Mark under a BIS licence granted per Scheme-I of Schedule-II of the BIS (Conformity Assessment) Regulations, 2018.

Here is the short history, because it actually matters for your compliance position. The government first notified a copper QCO in 2023, then replaced it with this 2024 order - which effectively gave everyone more time, with staged dates: 19 October 2024 for manufacturers in general, 19 January 2025 for Small Enterprises and 19 April 2025 for Micro Enterprises. All three dates are behind us now. So if you are making or importing any of the nine products below without a licence today, you are not approaching a deadline - you have already missed it. Since then the order has been amended twice: once in February 2025 (a short-lived import relaxation that expired) and again on 30 June 2026 - and the 2026 one is live right now, so we have explained it in full below.

Every product in the order's table has its own Indian Standard, its own test regime and its own licence. Click through for the dedicated guide to each:

Per the order's note, the latest version of each Indian Standard, including amendments notified by BIS from time to time, applies.

On 30 June 2026, the government notified the Copper Products (Quality Control) Amendment Order, 2026 - S.O. 3503(E). If you are in air conditioning or refrigeration manufacturing, this one directly affects you - and if you are not, it is worth knowing so nobody misapplies it to your product.

In plain words: the amendment replaces the third proviso of the 2024 order and opens a temporary, tightly capped import window for exactly one product - inner grooved copper tubes falling under IS 10773:2025, when imported by a manufacturer for making air conditioning and refrigeration equipment, sub-assemblies or components in India. Nothing else in the order is touched.

Two things worth catching here. First, notice the Gazette cites IS 10773:2025 - the refrigeration/AC tube standard has been revised (the 2024 order originally listed the 1995 version), and since the order always applies the latest version of every standard, IS 10773:2025 is the version your certification and testing must now track. Second, this is the government's second relaxation for ACR tubes - the first (S.O. 884(E), February 2025, a 25% cap tied to FY 2023-24 imports) expired on 31 March 2025. The pattern is clear: short windows, hard caps, firm expiry dates. If you are an AC manufacturer using this window, treat 30 November 2026 as a wall. And if you are a tube mill or importer, note that the window does nothing for you unless your buyer is the equipment manufacturer importing for their own production.

Let us keep this simple. The copper order has one permanent exemption: goods manufactured domestically purely for export. That is it. There is no general exemption for goods imported as components of finished products, and no small-unit turnover exemption - micro and small enterprises were only given later compliance dates (19 April 2025 and 19 January 2025), and both have passed. On top of that sits one temporary carve-out right now: the June 2026 amendment's capped import window for inner grooved ACR tubes, explained above - live only until 30 November 2026, only for AC/refrigeration equipment manufacturers, and only up to the 50% cap. Everything else, everyone else: the ISI Mark applies in full, today.

BIS expects documentation in three broad groups. Getting the format right is the single biggest cause of delay for first-time applicants, which is exactly the part we take off your plate:

• Administrative: company registration, factory licence, trademark proof, and - for foreign makers - the Authorized Indian Representative appointment.
• Technical: product drawings and specification, raw-material details, machinery list, in-house test equipment list, and the recognised-lab test report.
• Quality control: the quality manual, competent QC personnel details, and the process and quality-control flow for the product.

The route depends on where your factory is. Indian manufacturers follow the domestic Scheme-I process - sample testing, documentation and a factory assessment before the licence is granted (official standard timeframe is about 30 days for a fully-prepared file; realistically plan for a few weeks to a few months). The step-by-step is on our BIS Certification for Indian Manufacturers page. Manufacturers outside India go through FMCS with an Authorized Indian Representative and typically an overseas factory audit (standard timeframe about 180 days) - see our FMCS guide.

Once the licence is granted, BIS issues a unique licence number (the CM/L number). The ISI Mark together with that CM/L number must be applied to the product and its packaging in the manner the standard prescribes - it is what lets a buyer, an inspector or a tender authority verify the certificate is genuine. Selling a notified copper product that carries no mark, or a mark without a valid licence behind it, is treated as non-compliance.

The Bureau of Indian Standards is the certifying and enforcing authority for this product, and non-compliance is dealt with under the BIS Act, 2016:

• Seizure of stock from the factory, warehouse or distribution chain.
• Customs detention of imported consignments that arrive without a valid licence and marking.
• Fines and imprisonment as provided under the BIS Act, 2016, for manufacturing, importing or selling without certification.
• Loss of tenders and contracts, since government, PSU and serious private buyers require the ISI Mark as a precondition.

Copper products span nine notified items - wire rods, rods and bars, strip, wires and four distinct tube categories - each under its own Indian Standard with its own test regime. We work across the entire Copper Products QCO as specialists, prepare every document to exact BIS format, and coordinate lab testing and the factory assessment so your file keeps moving - whether your plant is in India or overseas.