BIS. FSSAI. WPC. Legal Metrology. The list of Indian regulators who can hold your shipment at port is longer than most importers realise — and every one of them wants to be satisfied before your goods leave China, not after.
Compliance is the part of importing that punishes you for not knowing what you didn't know. A toy manufacturer who's never heard of BIS registration, a supplements brand unaware FSSAI licensing applies to their category, an electronics importer who didn't know their product needs WPC equipment type approval before it can legally be sold in India — all three find out the same way: at the port, with a container accruing demurrage while they scramble to fix it retroactively.
VIAQEX runs compliance review before the purchase order is placed, not after the goods arrive. We identify which Indian regulatory regimes apply to your specific product — not your product category in general, but the exact item, its components, and its intended use — and build the certification timeline into your sourcing plan from day one.
BIS (Bureau of Indian Standards) registration or certification applies to a growing list of product categories under Quality Control Orders — electronics, toys, certain steel products, and more are added periodically, which is exactly why a category that was unregulated last year can require registration this year. FSSAI licensing applies to any food, food-contact material, or nutraceutical/supplement product. WPC (Wireless Planning & Coordination) equipment type approval applies to anything that transmits on radio frequency — Bluetooth earbuds, Wi-Fi devices, remote controls — a category many importers don't realise is regulated at all. Legal Metrology governs pre-packaged commodity labelling: net quantity, MRP, manufacturer details, and more, all of which must be correct before the goods clear customs, not fixed with a sticker afterward.
The Harmonized System code you (or your CHA) declare determines your customs duty rate, whether anti-dumping duty applies, and which certifications are triggered — and the "correct" code is often genuinely ambiguous for products that could reasonably sit under two or three headings. Misclassification, even unintentional, creates real risk: goods held for reassessment, penalty exposure, or a shipment cleared under a code that doesn't match what a physical inspection reveals. We review classification against your actual product specification before shipment, so the code on the paperwork is the code that survives an inspection.
Most certification processes — BIS registration especially — take weeks, sometimes longer for first-time applicants or new product categories. The importers who get hurt are the ones who discover the requirement after production is already finished. We flag applicable certifications during the sourcing and planning stage, so the registration process runs in parallel with production instead of blocking your shipment after the fact.
We review your exact product — not just its category — against current BIS, FSSAI, WPC, and Legal Metrology requirements.
We confirm the correct HS code and flag any anti-dumping duty or licensing condition it triggers.
For anything requiring registration or approval, we map the process, timeline, and documentation needed — and start it in parallel with production.
Before the goods leave the factory, we confirm labelling, documentation, and certification status match what Indian customs will expect to see.
BIS applicability is set product-by-product under Quality Control Orders and is updated periodically, so the honest answer is "it depends and it can change" — which is exactly why we check the current requirement for your specific item rather than relying on what was true last year.
Often yes — food-contact materials and certain packaging fall under FSSAI's scope even though the product itself isn't edible. This is one of the most commonly missed requirements by first-time importers.
Outcomes range from a delay while you obtain the certification retroactively (if possible for your product), to the shipment being held, re-exported, or destroyed in serious cases — along with demurrage and penalty costs accruing throughout. This is precisely the scenario this service exists to prevent.
We scope exactly what applies to your product and manage the documentation and process end-to-end where you want full execution, or hand you a clear roadmap to run in-house if you prefer.
A 30-minute call is usually enough for us to tell you exactly what this will cost and how long it will take.
