April 2020

The Bureau of Indian Standards (hereinafter referred to as ‘BIS’) through BIS Act, 2016 operates a product certification scheme for standardization of goods that enter the market for sale to consumers. The Government had introduced the product certification scheme to ensure that goods made available to consumers are of a standard quality and safe for being used, as per the prescribed standards/ parameters. These parameters/ standards prescribed by BIS, have to be adhered to prior to the products being made available to consumers.

According to Indian Daily, the Times of India, the Bengaluru police recently conducted a raid in the upmarket J.P. Nagar area of south Bengaluru in a shop selling counterfeit water purifiers and ancillary parts/ accessories. The raid resulted in the seizure of nineteen (19) kits comprising of parts such as an RO membrane, carbon filter, sediment filter, post carbon filter and UF membrane along with stickers bearing the logo of a prominent water purifier brand, namely KENT. According to the police officials involved in the raid, the fear of unsanitary drinking water among consumers coupled with high demand for replaceable water filters in the market, has contributed a great deal to the rise of counterfeit reverse osmosis (RO) filters which are essential to the proper functioning of a water purifier.