The Retailers Association of India (RAI) has urged the government to defer the enforcement of the new norms for imported toys and give toy-makers an adequate transition period of 12-18 months to be able to comply with them.

In a notification issued in September, the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) had said that all imported toys will now need to be tested locally and must comply with the standards prescribed by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS).

In a letter written to the Commerce Ministry, the RAI has also urged the government to hold a consultation process with all the stakeholders before the enforcement of the notification.

The association has said the abrupt implementation of the notification without giving sufficient time to the industry, will lead to disruption in the market. “Withdrawal of popular toy products from the market fuels a grey market economy. Such a move, will in fact be contrary to the government’s efforts to curb grey market, and will delay entry of high-quality and safe products into the Indian market,” the letter stated.

It also said that BIS standards should be aligned with international standards to ensure export promotion.

It also pointed out that there is not enough infrastructure for testing toys in the country. “As per the new notification, ‘representative sample of the toys being imported’ are to be tested ‘by an independent laboratory which is accredited by NABL (National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories), India’. We would like to draw your attention to the fact that, in India currently, none of the independent laboratories are accredited to NABL.”

In a statement, Kumar Rajagopalan, CEO, RAI, said: “Our main contention is that such a notification that has ramifications for a huge section of retailers, most of whom are small retailers, has been issued with no consultation with the stakeholders. Furthermore, it comes out of the blue, with no forewarning and gives no time for retailers to prepare for compliance. As a result, it will have grave consequences such as losses in terms of huge amounts of money paid as advance by retailers to suppliers overseas, and loss of jobs as some businesses that sell only toys will have to shut shop during the peak business season.”

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