At the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Indonesia and Thailand have questioned India’s quality control orders (QCO) on a range of goods, such as footwear, medical textiles and viscose staple fibre.
These concerns were raised during Wednesday’s WTO market access meeting. Canada, Japan, the United Kingdom and the European Union expressed reservations about India’s QCOs last year, labelling them protectionist.
Concerns regarding QCOs were also voiced by Indonesia regarding viscose rayon cut staple spun yarn, dyed knitted or crocheted cloth derived from synthetic fibres. India has issued QCOs on a number of products to promote domestic production.
India hopes to reduce inferior imports by enforcing quality standards for these commodities. QCOs require that a certain Indian Standard be followed, that a valid licence be obtained from the Bureau of Indian Standards and that the covered products show the standard mark.
The quality of Indian products will determine the direction of its trade in the future, an official stated, adding that QCOs apply to both local manufacturing and imports.
