BIS Certification Delayed or Product Listing Rejected: Timelines, Appeal and RTI

Reviewed on: 2026-06-12.

Direct answer. Log in to manakonline.in and read the exact status against your application number. Most delays trace to one of three things: a pending or defective test report, an unscheduled factory inspection, or a query you have not fully answered. Clear the specific blocker, then escalate a genuinely stuck file through the portal grievance route and CPGRAMS. If BIS refuses, suspends or cancels a licence, you can appeal to the Director General under Section 32 of the BIS Act, 2016, normally within 90 days. And because the Bureau of Indian Standards is a public authority, an RTI application gets you the file notings and the recorded reasons when nobody will tell you why the file is parked.

Open your application on Manak Online and note the status text word for word, with the date it last changed: query raised, test report awaited, inspection scheduled, under process, recommended, rejected. Download every letter attached to the file. Quote the application number in every email, grievance and RTI; without it, no officer can find your file.

A query is not a rejection. It is a list of specific points, and a reply that answers four points out of five keeps the file pending exactly as if you had answered none. Break the query letter into numbered points and answer each one with evidence, in one complete submission, within the stated deadline.

Treat these as indicative, not guaranteed. The clock only runs on a complete file. The three usual blockers:

• Test report problems. The sample tested must be the exact model and variant applied for, every required parameter of the Indian Standard must be tested, and every result must pass. A failed parameter or wrong-variant sample means a fresh sample and a re-test; no follow-up letter fixes a bad report.
• Factory inspection. If it is not scheduled, scheduling is your bottleneck; chase the slot through the portal and your jurisdictional BIS branch office. If it recorded deficiencies, close each with proof: calibration certificates, corrected records, dated photographs.
• Document mismatch. The legal name and factory address must match across the application, manufacturing licence, test report and inspection report. A mismatch triggers a query every time and is the easiest fix here.

If Amazon, Flipkart or another marketplace rejects your listing over BIS, the usual causes are practical. The registration number does not match the brand and model in the BIS database, the certificate covers a different variant, or the product is under a mandatory scheme and you hold no registration yet. Check your entry on the BIS portal's certified-product search and make the listing match it exactly: same brand, same model number, same standard. If you hold no registration for a notified product, do not list it; selling a notified product without certification invites penalties under the BIS Act. Seller support handles the listing side; BIS handles only certification.

1. Portal grievance. Raise it on Manak Online with the application number, the dates and the current status text. Note the grievance reference.
2. Jurisdictional branch office. Write to the branch head with a point-by-point summary and annexures. Keep it to one page plus enclosures.
3. CPGRAMS. If the grievance route stalls, file on pgportal.gov.in against the Bureau of Indian Standards under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution. Attach the timeline and the earlier grievance number.

Most guides stop at grievances. The statute gives you more. Under Section 32 of the Bureau of Indian Standards Act, 2016, a person aggrieved by an order relating to the grant, refusal, suspension or cancellation of a licence or certificate of conformity may prefer an appeal to the Director General of BIS, normally within 90 days of the order. A further appeal against the Director General's order lies to the Central Government. The appeal must be decided after giving you an opportunity to be heard.

This matters in two situations. First, a rejection you believe is wrong on facts: the appeal puts a senior authority's eyes on the file. Second, a cancellation or suspension of an existing licence, where the commercial damage is immediate. Mind the limitation: get the order date on record and file within 90 days, with the prescribed fee. The appeal should argue from the test record and the standard, not from hardship alone, so have a consultant or lawyer settle the grounds in high-value matters.

BIS is a public authority under the RTI Act, 2005, so the inside of your file is reachable. RTI will not grant the licence and cannot cure a failed test, but it answers the question the portal will not: why exactly is this file not moving. Ask the Central Public Information Officer, BIS, for:

• the current status of application number [X] and the date-wise movement of the file;
• copies of file notings recording the reasons for the delay or rejection;
• the date your query reply was received and the action taken on it;
• copies of the inspection report and test-report findings relied on, so far as they relate to your own application.

File through RTI Online; the CPIO normally has 30 days to reply. If the reply is incomplete, see first and second appeals. A precise RTI also strengthens a later Section 32 appeal, because you argue from the actual record. Draft tips are in why RTI gets rejected.

• Treating a query as a rejection and abandoning the application fee and the file.
• Answering some query points and not others. One complete submission, numbered annexures.
• Applying under the wrong Indian Standard for the product variant. Verify the standard before responding, not after.
• Selling a mandatory-scheme product while the application is pending. Escalate the delay instead; the penalty risk is not worth it.
• Missing the 90-day window for a Section 32 appeal while grievances go round in circles.

On manakonline.in, against your application number. The status text and its date are your starting point for every follow-up.

No. BIS publishes indicative timelines, roughly 30 days for the simplified ISI procedure and about 20 working days for CRS, both counted from a complete file. Test reports and inspection slots are the usual variables.

Yes. Apart from curing the defect and reapplying, Section 32 of the BIS Act, 2016 gives a statutory appeal to the Director General, normally within 90 days, and a further appeal to the Central Government.

Not directly. RTI extracts the recorded reasons and file movement, which often unsticks a file and always strengthens a grievance or appeal. The certification decision itself stays with the technical process.

Almost always a mismatch: the brand, model or standard on the listing does not match the BIS database entry. Correct the listing to mirror the certificate exactly and raise it with seller support, quoting your registration number.

Generally no. A private lab's internal records are outside RTI. Records the lab submitted to BIS, sitting in your file, can be sought from BIS.

• Blacklisting notice issued to a small contractor
• AD code registration stuck on ICEGATE: exporter checklist
• GeM seller account suspended or product delisted
• All practical guides
• How to file RTI online

Download the BIS application rescue checklist (PDF) to track query points, inspection deficiencies and appeal deadlines against your application number.