The central government Thursday informed that 18,600 toys have been seized from outlets of major retail stores like Hamleys and Archies, among others, at airports and malls across the country for not meeting quality standards and using fake licences. The toys were seized during 44 raids that were conducted by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) in the past two weeks.
Over 18,000 #toys seized from retail stores across India for allegedly violating quality control norms. The Central Consumer Protection Authority sends notices to #Amazon, #Flipkart and #Snapdeal for selling toys without BIS mark. @TimsyJaipuria reports pic.twitter.com/ndymnvZnmM
— CNBC-TV18 (@CNBCTV18News) January 12, 2023
The raids were conducted at retail stores of several brands, including Hamleys, Archies, WH Smith, Kids Zone and Cococart located at major airports and malls across the country.
Meanwhile, the consumer protection agency CCPA has issued notices to three major e-commerce operators — Amazon, Flipkart, and Snapdeal — for alleged violations of a toy quality control regulation.
Notably, the government has made it necessary for toys to comply with safety standards stipulated by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), a national standard-establishing organisation, effective January 1, 2021.
“We received complaints from domestic manufacturers of sale of toys that do not conform with the BIS standard. We conducted 44 raids in the last one month and seized 18,600 toys from major retail stores,” Pramod Kumar Tiwari, the BIS Director General said in a press conference on Thursday.
He added that apart from Hamleys and Archies, raids were conducted between December 28, 2022 and January 12, 2023 on retail stores of WH Smith, Kids Zone and Cococart, which are located at malls and airports across the country.
Legal action will be taken against the retailers for violation of quality norms as per the provisions of the BIS Act, under which the initial penalty is Rs 1 lakh for the first-time offence to a maximum of a jail term, he added.
According to reports, toys were seized from Hamleys outlets at New Delhi airport Terminal 1 and 2, as well as in Kolkata, Ranchi, Noida, and SAS Nagar, according to the BIS (Punjab).
Toys were also seized at the Archies store in Ghaziabad’s Pacific Mall, the WH Smith stores in Hyderabad and Delhi airports, the Cococart stores in Mumbai and Gujarat airports, and the Tiara Toys Zone in Chennai airport, according to the report.
Maximum toys were confiscated from Ahmedabad-based Raj Toy World, followed by 3,080 from Madurai-based Giftz and 2,000 from Bengaluru-based Royal Mart and Chennai-based Kids Zone, according to the report.
