India’s Furniture QCO Update: A Last Window for Eligible Import Shipments

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Dated: 04.11.2026

India’s Furniture QCO Update: A Last Window for Eligible Import Shipments

The Government of India has issued the Furniture (Quality Control) Third Amendment Order, 2026, revising the transitional exemption available for certain imported furniture goods under the Furniture (Quality Control) Order, 2025.

Issued by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry’s Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), the amendment took effect upon its publication in the Official Gazette on 2 November 2026. Its central purpose is to set a clear, time-bound pathway for import consignments ordered before the revised compliance regime.

What the amendment changes

The amendment replaces the earlier seventh and eighth provisos in paragraph 2 of the Furniture (Quality Control) Order, 2025. It establishes a conditional exemption from the Order for imported goods or articles that meet all three documentary deadlines below:

Purchase order: Placed on or before 12 August 2026
Bill of Lading: Issued on or before 30 November 2026
Bill of Entry: Issued on or before 31 December 2026

All three conditions must be satisfied. An import consignment that misses any one of these dates does not fall within this specific exemption.

Documentation requirement for importers

Importers using the exemption must submit documentary evidence to the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) within seven days of clearance of the consignment.

The submission must be made on the importer’s letterhead, signed by its authorised signatory, and include:

A copy of the purchase order
The Bill of Lading
The Bill of Entry
Other supporting documents, where relevant

This reporting obligation is not optional. Even where the shipment meets the purchase-order, shipping and entry deadlines, the importer must provide the required documents to BIS within the prescribed seven-day period.

Practical implications for furniture importers

The amendment creates a narrow transition window for imports that were commercially committed before 12 August 2026. It recognises that goods already ordered may still be moving through international shipping and customs clearance processes, while imposing firm end dates for those stages.

For importers, the main compliance risk is documentary timing. A purchase order dated before the cutoff alone is insufficient: the Bill of Lading must be issued by 30 November 2026, and the Bill of Entry must be issued by 31 December 2026. Importers also need to retain clear, consistent records showing that the documents relate to the same consignment.

For example, a furniture importer with a purchase order dated 10 August 2026 may rely on the exemption only if its Bill of Lading is issued no later than 30 November 2026 and its Bill of Entry is issued no later than 31 December 2026. After clearance, it must send the supporting records to BIS within seven days.

Legal context

The order was issued under section 16 of the Bureau of Indian Standards Act, 2016, which permits the Central Government to make quality-control orders in the public interest after consulting BIS.

It is the third amendment to the Furniture (Quality Control) Order, 2025. The principal order was published on 13 February 2025, with earlier amendments issued on 12 February 2026 and 2 March 2026.

Key takeaway

The 2026 amendment preserves a limited import exemption for qualifying furniture consignments, but only where strict purchase-order, shipping, customs-entry and post-clearance documentation requirements are met within the stated deadlines.

In case you face any issues related to Indirect Tax-Customs, GST, Foreign Trade Policy (FTP), Arbitration matters and Central Licensing and related advisory matters in India then please feel free to get in touch with SJ EXIM Services.

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Source: DPIIT

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