Compliance
23 QCOs rescinded: what changes for plastics and chemicals
For a few years, buyers and suppliers in India's plastics and chemicals chain organised themselves around Quality Control Orders: mandatory BIS certification for named products. Between 22 October and 1 December 2025, twenty-three of them were rescinded. For most specialty chemicals, the honest position now is that quality is defined by contract, and by nothing else.
What was rescinded
The Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals rescinded twenty-three petrochemical and polymer QCOs in those six weeks. Among them:
| Order | Original notification | Rescinded by |
|---|---|---|
| PVC Homopolymers (Quality Control) Order, 2024 | S.O. 920(E), 26 February 2024 (IS 17658:2021) | S.O. 5139(E), 12 November 2025 |
| Polyurethanes (Quality Control) Order, 2021, covering TPU granules | S.O. 3931(E), 13 September 2021 | S.O. 5141(E), 12 November 2025 |
| Vinyl Chloride Monomer | — | S.O. 5532(E), 28 November 2025 |
| Ethylene Dichloride | — | S.O. 5531(E), 28 November 2025 |
The PVC homopolymers order never came into force at all. It was deferred three times before it was withdrawn.
The practical effects are immediate. BIS certification is no longer a gate on PVC resin or TPU. Import options and the competitive set for those inputs have changed, and so has the price pressure that flows down to compound makers. Any contract warranty that still promises QCO compliance for these products now promises something that does not exist.
What never existed
The rescissions draw attention to a larger fact. No Quality Control Order has ever applied to polyester or polyether polyols, MDI, TDI, metallic stearates or plasticisers. For PVC heat stabilisers of any chemistry there is no Indian Standard at all.
Where standards exist, they are voluntary. IS 17659:2021 covers polyester polyol and IS 18174:2023 polyether polyols; IS 17916:2022 covers TDI-80. The BIS catalogue's stearate standards are written for cosmetics and explosives, not plastics additives. Polyurethane foam standards such as IS 7933:2022 are likewise voluntary.
Quality is contractual, so four documents carry it
When there is no mandatory standard, the only things standing between a field failure and a commercial dispute are documents you control:
- The written specification: the parameters that define a good batch, with their test methods and limits.
- The incoming inspection record: proof that each input lot met its own specification before it entered the process.
- The batch record: what was actually done, by whom, with which input lots, so a batch can be traced in both directions.
- The certificate of analysis: what you certify to the customer, and the evidence behind each figure.
The COA is often treated as a formality generated at despatch. In a market with no statutory floor, it is the contract. The quality system has to be built so the COA is true, traceable and defensible.
The downstream clock that reaches suppliers anyway
Rescinding the QCOs did not loosen everything. Some of the strictest requirements reach chemical suppliers through their customers.
The Lead Stabilizer in Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) Pipes and Fittings Rules, 2021, notified as G.S.R. 228(E) on 30 March 2021 and amended by G.S.R. 334(E) on 4 May 2022, set lead limits of 1 ppm on first extraction and 0.05 ppm on third. They closed the domestic market to lead-stabilised pipe in stages: potable water first, then agriculture and rain water, then drainage and sewerage. Export is the only exception.
The testing obligation sits with the pipe maker, not the stabiliser supplier. That is precisely why it reaches the supplier: a pipe maker who must file accredited test reports will not buy compound on a handshake specification. The supplier's COA, changeover discipline and traceability become the price of staying on the approved-vendor list.
What to do now
If you buy these materials: review contracts for warranties that cite rescinded orders, and replace them with the specific parameters you actually depend on, tested by a stated method.
If you supply them: remove any "BIS approved" claim that cannot be supported, write down the specification you are prepared to defend, and make sure every figure on your COA traces to a test record and a batch.
Either way: the absence of a mandatory standard is not a lighter regime. It is a regime where your own records are the only evidence. If you would like to see where your operation stands, the free eight-minute Operations Health Check scores six dimensions of your operating model, quality included.
Last reviewed 25 October 2026, from the Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals' gazette notifications of 12 and 28 November 2025 (fourteen orders, six products, three orders), the BIS standards catalogue, and G.S.R. 228(E) and G.S.R. 334(E). Confirm the current status of any order before relying on it.