BIS Answers the Big Questions on IS 62368-1 Migration for Electronics Manufacturers

Why BIS Issued These FAQs Now

Manufacturers navigating India’s electronics compliance landscape got a helpful reference point this July. The Bureau of Indian Standards published a set of FAQs on July 22, addressing one of the most consequential shifts in recent memory for power supply and IT equipment certification: the move from IS 13252(Part 1):2010 and IS 616:2017 to IS/IEC 62368-1:2023.

The good news for existing licence holders is that the migration is designed to be procedural rather than disruptive. Licence numbers remain valid. Separate licences for distinct product categories, such as power adaptors for IT equipment versus those for audio and video apparatus, remain intact. What does change is the underlying technical standard each product must demonstrate compliance against, along with the testing and documentation needed to prove it.

Licence Continuity Through the IS 62368-1 Migration

One of the more reassuring clarifications in the FAQ set addresses what happens to a manufacturer’s existing BIS licence number, known as the R-number, once migration is complete. According to BIS, the R-number stays the same regardless of which standard a product previously complied with. This matters for manufacturers who have built brand recognition and internal tracking systems around specific licence numbers over years of certification work.

BIS also confirmed that new models tested under IS/IEC 62368-1:2023 can be added to an existing licence originally issued under the older standards. This flexibility should ease the administrative burden for companies with large, multi-model product lines who would otherwise need to manage parallel licensing structures during the transition.

Testing Requirements for IS 62368-1 Migration

The FAQ document sets clear expectations for how testing must proceed. Existing licensees are required to submit complete test reports for all lead models under the revised Series Guidelines, and BIS explicitly ruled out submitting a single representative sample per licence as sufficient for migration purposes. Each lead model in scope needs its own complete report from a BIS-recognized laboratory.

Manufacturers can also begin testing under IS/IEC 62368-1:2023 before formally submitting a migration application, which allows compliance teams to get ahead of the paperwork once lab capacity and test standards are confirmed. Separate test reports remain necessary for products manufactured at different locations, consistent with how the Compulsory Registration Scheme already treats manufacturing sites as distinct licensing units.

Critical components deserve particular attention here. BIS was direct in stating that components complying only with the old standards cannot be accepted into the Critical Component List after migration, since IS/IEC 62368-1:2023 requires components acting as safeguards to meet its own requirements. Manufacturers relying on legacy-certified components will need to plan for requalification, though parallel testing of components and end products remains permitted.

Deadlines and the Concurrent Running Period

Perhaps the most operationally important detail in the FAQs is the timeline. Renewals and new applications under the old standards will still be accepted, but only until November 1, 2028, which BIS designates as the last date of concurrent running. After that date, no new licences will be granted under IS 13252(Part 1):2010 or IS 616:2017, and any licensee who has not completed migration risks cancellation or removal of affected models from their licence scope.

Notably, BIS confirmed there is no fee for migrating already registered models when applying through the Standard Revision provision, which removes one potential cost barrier for licence holders working through their compliance roadmap over the next two years.

Key Takeaways

• Licence continuity is a genuine advantage here. Manufacturers do not need to restart their certification history or rebrand around a new R-number, which preserves market trust built over previous licensing cycles.
• The November 2028 deadline sounds distant, but full test reports per lead model take real lab time to arrange. Compliance teams should treat this as a multi-year planning exercise rather than a last-minute filing task.
• Manufacturers with components tested under legacy standards should start parallel testing conversations with their labs now, since BIS’s guidance treats component and end-product testing as running on separate but connected tracks.

Source: https://www.crsbis.in/BIS/wtsnew.do