Use of BSTI standard mark made mandatory for 36 new products

The use of the standard mark of Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution (BSTI) has been made mandatory for 36 new products, including transportable and refillable welded steel LPG cylinders, pressure cookers, microwave ovens and sweetmeats.

Other products include green tea and malt-based food, chutneys, soy sauce, decorated cake, chhana, cheeses, whey cheeses, cream cheeses, extra hard grating cheese, hair creams, kajal, face pack, glycerine toilet soap, liquid toilet soap, transparent toilet soap, bitumen and bituminous binders-polymer modified bitumen, clean cookstoves and clean cooking solutions, and industrial safety helmets.

The list also included hessian jute bags for rice and pulse, hessian jute bags for packing 30 kg food grain, jute bags for packing 50 kg food grains, textile lightweight jute sacking bags for packing 50kg food grains, nonwoven wipes, silk fabrics, synthetic mosquito nets, towels and towelling, lead-acid traction batteries, uninterruptible power systems (UPS), single-phase small AC and universal electric motors, and manual toothbrushes.

The manufacturers must use the standard marks of BSTI in the levels or in the bodies of the products, the state-run agency said in a circular issued on September 25.

In another notification issued on the same date, the BSTI said it will also ban sales, distribution and commercial advertisement of the products if they are not produced maintaining the standards set by the agency.

The watchdog for monitoring food items and manufacturing products also said the circulars will come into effect in two months since publication.