Export (Quality Control and Inspection) Act, 1963
To ensure a high quality of Indian goods, the government enacted a legislation known as the Export (Quality Control and Inspection) Act. 1963. Under this Act, the Government of India has been powers to:
- Notify commodities which shall be subject to quality control or inspection or both prior to export;
- Specify the type of quality control or inspection which will be applied to the notified commodity;
- Establish, adopt or recognize one or more standard specifications for a notified commodity; and
- Prohibit the export, in the course of international trade, of a notified commodity unless it is accompanied by a certificate that it satisfies the conditions relating to quality control or inspection or that it has affixed or applied to it a mark or seal recognized by the government indicating that it conforms to the standard specification applicable to it.
Export Inspection Council of India
The Export Inspection Council of India was set up by the Government of India under Section 3 of the Export (Quality Control and Inspection) Act, 1963, to provide for the sound development of export trade through quality control and pre-shipment inspection. The Council is an apex body for controlling the activities of the quality control and pre-shipment inspection of all the commodities meant for export. The main functions of the Council as assigned in the Act are (i) to advise the Central Government regarding measures for enforcing quality control and inspection in respect of commodities intended for export and to draw programme therefore; (ii) to arrange pre-shipment inspection of notified commodities for export; and (iii) to perform such other activities as may be assigned under the Act for matters connected therein for quality control and inspection.
In order to make the Act more effective, keeping in view of the experience gained, a comprehensive amendment was enacted by the Parliament through the Export (Quality Control and Inspection) Amendment Act,1984 which came into force on 2.7.1984. The amended Act Interalia provides for power to search and seizure of commodities, initiate adjudication proceeding against the erring manufactures/ exporters, cancellations/ with holding of the certificate of inspection already issued by the Inspection Agencies etc.
The EIC is to advise the Indian Government on matters relating to pre-shipment inspection and quality control measures for export items. Considerable progress has been made by the EIC in:
- Defining the technical specifications for various products;
- Providing testing /survey facilities; and
- Working out appropriate procedures.
EIC is a statutory body. Eminent technologists and representatives of industry and trade, government departments and technical organizations are represented on it. As a result, the specialised knowledge, experience and technical knowledge of the various agencies in the country in the field of grading, standardization and inspection have been pooled together under the overall coordinating role of the EIC to enable it to carry out its pre-shipment inspection programme in the most scientific manner. The secretarial of the Council is located in Calcutta, with regional offices at Bombay, Madras, Cochin and Delhi. In view of the existing inadequate testing facilities, it has been decided to set up “laboratory-cum test houses’ at important trade and industrial centers in India, Moreover, a number of existing agencies have been recognized for carrying out pre-shipment inspection
In working out procedural details, the representative of industry and trade are consulted, and where the existing trade practices so require, the scheme is introduced initially on a voluntary basis and thereafter made compulsory. Process quality control in the light engineering industry has been made obligatory on the part of the manufactures. The secretariat of the EIC at Calcutta and its regional offices are manned with experienced technical officers and staff, who deal with all aspects- both technical and organizational- of quality control and pre-shipment inspection of exportable commodities.