India’s Commerce Department is overhauling its testing, certification, and accreditation framework to reduce export barriers and capitalise on recent trade agreements, aiming to strengthen the country’s global market share and support small and medium enterprises.
India’s Commerce Department has begun a review of the country’s testing, certification and accreditation system as it looks to remove bottlenecks that can make it harder for exporters to use the market access created by free trade agreements, according to businessline. Officials are meeting industry groups to identify gaps in laboratories, product testing, certification rules and compliance with international standards, with the aim of feeding those concerns into policy changes. According to the report, the exercise is intended to strengthen quality infrastructure and help Indian goods compete more effectively overseas.
The timing is significant because India is moving from signing trade deals to trying to make them work on the ground. The source quoted by businessline said agreements with the European Free Trade Association, the UK and Australia are already in force, while pacts with the European Union and New Zealand are expected to follow. The message from officials is that tariff cuts alone do not create export gains unless products can clear the technical and quality checks demanded by importing markets.
That broader push has already shown up in other sectors. Livemint reported that the government plans to set up modern toy testing facilities in major manufacturing clusters, after Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal urged manufacturers to spell out the equipment needed for a stronger certification ecosystem. The stated goal is to help Indian toy makers meet global standards and win a bigger share of a world market estimated at $120 billion.
Industry representatives have also been pressing the government on the cost of compliance. The Economic Times reported that exporters raised concerns about testing requirements, certification fees and the challenges faced by small and medium-sized firms in a meeting with Goyal, who promised continued support and targeted measures to reduce barriers. He also urged businesses to make fuller use of India’s trade agreements to expand exports and create jobs.
The review fits with a wider policy shift towards making export compliance cheaper and less cumbersome. The Directorate General of Foreign Trade has launched TRACE, or Trade Regulations, Accreditation and Compliance Enablement, to help micro, small and medium-sized enterprises cover part of the cost of testing, inspection, certification and related conformity assessments, according to notices described by Legality Simplified and TaxGuru. In parallel, India Briefing reported that the enhanced eCoO 2.0 system is meant to simplify export certification and improve workflow for exporters. Together, these steps suggest New Delhi is trying to build the technical backbone needed to turn trade agreements into actual market access.
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