A June gazette order quietly moved five BIS deadlines
The Ministry of Steel notified the Steel and Steel Products (Quality Control) Amendment Order, 2026 under S.O. 3300(E) on 20 June, amending the parent order of 2024. It removes nothing from mandatory certification. It pushes back enforcement for five Indian Standards, and the relief runs longer than much of the market appears to realise.
Held for three years
Serial 23, IS 2879:1998, mild steel for metal arc welding electrodes, covering the billets, blooms, cast billet ingots and wire rods used for electrode core wire.
Serial 129, IS 5518:1996, steels for die blocks for drop forging.
Enforcement for both is suspended for three years from the date of gazette publication, placing it in June 2029.
Deferred to 31 March 2027
Serials 51, 52 and 53: IS 5522:2014, stainless sheets and strips for utensils; IS 6911:2017, stainless plate, sheet and strip; and IS 15997:2012, low nickel austenitic stainless sheet and strip for utensils and kitchen appliances.
These are the same three standards behind the conditional import exemptions issued in March and April, which carried cut-offs of 30 September and 26 October. The June order sets a later date for the standards themselves.
What the order does not do
A Quality Control Order is the instrument that makes BIS certification compulsory for a product. This amendment suspends enforcement rather than withdrawing it, so the requirement returns on the stated dates unless the ministry issues something further. Certification itself runs through product testing at recognised laboratories, technical documentation, factory inspection and licensing, a process measured in months. For electrode steel and forging die blocks, the gap between now and 2029 is the whole of the preparation window.