IS 9873 (Part 1): the toy safety standard behind India's ISI mark for toys, its 2019 and 2025 editions, tests and fees

IS 9873 Part 1 covers the safety of toys related to their mechanical and physical properties^[1]: hazards from a toy's shape, size, parts, edges and strength rather than its chemistry or electrics.

The other parts named in the Toys QCO cover flammability (Part 2), migration of certain elements (Part 3), swings, slides and similar activity toys (Part 4), finger paints (Part 7) and certain phthalate esters (Part 9), and electric toys have their own standard, IS 15644^[1].

BIS's portal lists the newest edition as IS 9873 (Part 1):2025 (Fifth Revision), identical to its international counterpart under dual numbering and kept by committee PCD 30, Toys and Related Test Methods^[2].

Comploa does not reproduce the standard's text; BIS sells it. This page explains how Part 1 is used in certification, which edition applies, what testing involves and what it costs. For the import side, see importing toys and the Toys QCO.

Part 1 is the licence standard for non-electric toys; the other parts and IS 15644 are tested alongside it as they apply^[4].

Classify the toy, find its series, test to the right edition, check the warnings, check the licence, and plan for port testing. The approval checker confirms what else applies.

IS 9873 (Part 1):2025 is the newest edition, and the 2019 edition stays usable until 22 March 2027^[3]. Three dates appear in official documents:

• The 2020 Toys QCO and BIS's list of products under compulsory certification name IS 9873 (Part 1):2018^[1].
• BIS's November 2023 toys manual uses IS 9873 (Part 1):2019^[8].
• BIS published IS 9873 (Part 1):2025, superseding 2019^[2].

The QCO settles it: the latest version notified by BIS applies from the date of notification^[1]. BIS first set 23 March 2026 as the last date for the 2025 edition, then extended concurrent running to 22 March 2027 because the revision moves warnings, which may mean new packaging labels, and changes requirements for some toy varieties^[3].

Move every licensed toy to IS 9873 (Part 1):2025 before 22 March 2027, starting with packaging. BIS's circular says the revision changes the location of warnings, which may require new packaging labels, and modifies requirements for some varieties^[3].

In practice: list every series in your licence, ask your lab which ones are affected, reprint warning panels, and retest where requirements changed. Only 17 licences and 5 labs were recorded against the 2025 edition on 1 November 2026^[2], so book lab time early. Track the date with the QCO deadline checker and the compliance calendar.

First-time applicants should test to the 2025 edition from the start. A licence granted on 2019-edition reports would need to be moved over within months, and option-2 reports are generally accepted only when under 90 days old^[17], so there is little to gain from testing to the outgoing edition now. Importers buying from a licensed factory should ask which edition the factory's latest surveillance and test reports cite, and get written confirmation that packaging will be updated before 22 March 2027^[3].

Every toy under the Toys QCO needs it: products designed or clearly intended, whether or not exclusively, for play by children under 14^[1]. Part 1 is the licence standard for non-electric toys and a secondary test standard for electric ones^[4].

Toys fall under tariff heading 9503, with items reported as 9503 00 10 (electronic), 9503 00 20 (non-electronic), 9503 00 91 and 9503 00 99^[18]. DGFT's policy says toys and similar recreational goods imported under any chapter are governed by the BIS standards^[19], so a toy declared outside heading 9503 is still caught.

One licence can cover many models through series. Toys of similar design, made from the same materials and in a single sub-category form a series, and BIS endorses each series and its models in the licence^[4].

"Same materials" means material of the same nature, such as LLDPE, PVC, HDPE or cotton fabric, and BIS tests the varieties and colours in a licence in rotation^[15]. A new toy in a different sub-category is a new series needing a change of scope^[4].

BIS draws 3 to 10 fully packaged and labelled pieces per series and tests them against the primary and applicable secondary standards^[6][4].

BIS's October 2022 manual clarified that several Part 1 checks are conditional^[15]:

• the accessible-clearance check for movable segments applies only to ride-on toys where fingers could be crushed;
• the compression test is treated as not applicable where the toy's size or design makes it impractical;
• the expanding-materials test applies only to materials that absorb water.

These are BIS's operating clarifications, not the standard's text. They save money on small toys but do not remove the core tests, and the November 2023 manual should be read for the current position^[8].

Part 1 tests are cheap compared with electrical standards: BIS's laboratory system lists Rs 1,850 to Rs 18,129, excluding taxes^[20]. Chemical parts cost more, and you usually need several parts per toy.

Yes, separately from BIS. Under DGFT Notification 33/2015-20, a sample from each toy consignment goes to an NABL-accredited lab, and goods cannot be sold until it passes; failed goods are sent back or destroyed at the importer's cost^[11].

At Nhava Sheva the importer gives a No Use Bond equal to the assessable value and files the lab report within two months^[19]. JNCH nominated six labs in 2019, including Intertek India, Gurugram and Alpha Test House, Bahadurgarh^[19]. This is why a factory's IS 9873 compliance must hold batch after batch. See why shipments get held and the customs clearance checklist.

Through BIS's Foreign Manufacturers Certification Scheme, which covers every product except MeitY-notified electronics^[21]. The factory applies; an importer cannot apply for it^[22].

BIS gives about six months as the average FMCS grant time^[24]. Samples are 3 to 10 pieces per series^[6], so a range across many sub-categories means many sample sets. See BIS FMCS, FMCS fees and the China toys guide.

Most problems are scope and labelling, and BIS treats nearly everything as critical. Its May 2024 guidance lists only certain warning and marking lapses as non-critical, and only the first time in two years; failures in abuse tests are critical^[14].

These examples add BIS fees to listed lab charges and assume one inspection man-day for illustration.

1. Large Indian maker of plastic blocks, one series. Part 1 at Rs 10,000 plus Part 3 at Rs 12,000 and Part 9 at Rs 10,000^[20] = Rs 32,000 testing. Add Rs 1,000 application, Rs 7,000 for one man-day, Rs 1,000 licence fee^[17] and the Rs 98,000 minimum marking fee^[7]: Rs 1,39,000 before GST.

2. Volume. At Rs 4.5 per 1,000 pieces^[7], 1 crore pieces a year costs Rs 45,000 in unit fees, still below the Rs 98,000 minimum, so the minimum is what a large firm pays.

3. Small enterprise. The minimum drops to Rs 49,000^[7]; with the same Rs 32,000 testing and Rs 9,000 in fees, the first year is Rs 90,000.

4. Electric toy. It needs an IS 15644 licence, minimum Rs 1,46,000 for a large firm and Rs 80 per 1,000 pieces^[27], with IS 9873 Part 1 tested as a secondary standard^[4].

See BIS ISI licence costs and the compliance cost estimator.

Very few. The Toys QCO exempts goods for export^[1], toys made and sold by registered handicraft artisans and registered Geographical Indication producers^[16], and up to 300 imported units a financial year (at most 5 per sample type) for R&D by certified or applicant manufacturers, which may not be sold^[13].

On our reading, neither the order nor its amendments give MSMEs any deferral^[28], so a small importer is treated like a large one. The Transition Facilitation Order of 2026 lists the Toys QCO, letting permitted companies source under a Scheme-II licence^[12], but that is a route for permitted companies, not an exemption from the standard. The QCO hub lists exemptions order by order.

The Standard Mark on the toy or primary packaging, plus the model number, CM/L licence number and BIS website line on each package^[10]. Age warnings under IS 9873 Part 1 matter too: missing small-parts, small-ball and marble warnings are the main items BIS lists when it decides how to treat a failed surveillance sample^[14], and the 2025 edition moves where warnings go^[3].

Retail packs imported for sale also need Legal Metrology declarations and importer registration, on our reading of Rule 27^[29]; registration costs Rs 500^[30]. Plastic packaging brings plastic EPR duties for importers^[31]. Use the product label checklist, LMPC label rules and the Amazon seller guide before you print.

Selling or importing notified goods without a valid Standard Mark breaches section 17 of the BIS Act^[32], punishable with up to two years' imprisonment or a fine from Rs 2 lakh up to ten times the value of the goods^[32].

BIS can order a recall of non-conforming marked toys^[32], and the border check means a failed sample stops the whole consignment^[11]. A Rajya Sabha reply, as reported, said toy imports fell from US$ 276 million in FY 2014-15 to US$ 65 million in FY 2023-24, and that BIS had granted 1,509 licences to domestic toy makers by July 2024^[33]. See selling without BIS.

The Toys QCO requires toys to conform to IS 9873 (and IS 15644 for electric toys) and carry the Standard Mark under a Scheme-I licence^[1]. Part 1 is the standard written on the licence for non-electric toys.

The mark goes on the primary packaging and/or the toy, and each package shows the model number, the CM/L number and the BIS website line^[10]. Fees: Rs 98,000 minimum for a large firm, Rs 79,000 medium, Rs 49,000 small and Rs 19,600 micro, and Rs 4.5 per 1,000 pieces^[7]. In 2021 BIS set size-based unit rates for toys^[34]; the current list shows a single rate.

See the ISI mark, ISI mark fees, ISI renewal, or ask for a free compliance check.

• The detailed technical changes in the 2025 edition beyond BIS's summary (warning location and some varieties)^[3].
• Whether BIS has set a concurrent-running date for IS 9873 (Part 2):2025^[9].
• The toy trade figures come from a press summary of a Rajya Sabha reply we could not open^[33].