New Delhi, July 5 (KNN) Several industry bodies and associations on Tuesday held a meeting to discuss issues concerning the issuance of draft notification for Quality Control Orders (QCO) for Furniture.

The aim of the meeting was to understand the newly published standards, certification and regulatory compliance obligations and the available quality infrastructure in India.

They further delved into the potential restrictions on imports, cost burden on manufacturers and other economic operators and to plan the way forward.

Among industry bodies that participated in the consultation were the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Association of Furniture Manufacturers and Traders (AFMT), Retailers Association of India (RAI) and Federation of Indian Micro and Small & Medium Enterprises (FISME).

Government of India has issued QCOs on a number of products across various sectors over the past 2 to 3 years, which make compliance of the products mandatory to Indian Standards published by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) and require the manufacturers to obtain certification licence by the BIS.

The obligation is extended to overseas manufacturers whose products are imported into India.

DPIIT has issued draft notifications on products pertaining to wood and furniture industry. While Draft QCOs have been formally notified on the WTO website for Wood based Boards and door fittings, other draft notifications under active consideration are for Plywood, Door shutters and six categories of furniture products of common office and domestic use.

At the consultation, an overview of the draft Furniture Standards was presented by the officials from Bureau of Indian Standards.

This was followed by a panel discussion moderated by Anupam Kaul, Strategic Advisor, CII. Among the panellists were Joseph Bernard, Head Sourcing and Quality Assurance, Landmark Group, Huzefa Samplewala, President of furniture association (AFMT)  Arun Chellaram, Associate Director Featherlite Ltd., Mohit Bansal, Lead-Public Affairs, IKEA India and Aarati Sharma  (KNN Bureau)