Product
Code
Bureau
of Indian Standards (BIS) is the National code laying body in India.
The role of BIS code in Indian hazardous location system is to cover
all aspect relating to the area classification, equipment construction,
testing, selection, installation and maintenance of Ex equipment. IEC
is the international body for code laying. NEC takes up this role in
USA and CENELEC in Europe. Most parts of the world (including India)
accept these international codes for Ex equipment.
At present,
the various BIS codes pertaining to Ex equipment are very old. Although
many of these codes are based on IEC, BS and VDE prevailing at the time
of adoption of these codes, they have not undergone changes in spite
of fact that reference codes i.e. IEC, BS and VDE themselves have undergone
changes many times since then. EU countries have adopted CENELEC codes,
which are identical to IEC as CENELEC and IEC have a co-operation agreement
for harmonisation of standards. This has led to the situation where
BIS codes are not at par with International codes like IEC/ CENELEC.
Due to this, Ex equipment of Indian origin are not acceptable in the
International markets. In this era of globalisation this situation is
ringing a death bell for Indian manufacturers.
Let us
see what IEC says about importance of International Standards. It says,
" IEC's international standards facilitate world trade by effectively
removing technical barriers to trade, leading to new markets and economic
growth. Put simply, a component or system manufactured to IEC standards
and manufactured in country A can be sold and used in countries B through
Z." It is important that this is taken seriously by BIS and India being
a member nation of IEC immediately adopts IEC codes to save Indian Ex
equipment manufacturers.
Due to
non-adoption of IEC codes, Indian manufacturers and users of Ex equipment
are at a dis-advantage vis-à-vis international manufacturers and users.
Two prominent examples being:
- IEC
permits use of increased safety equipment in Group II Zone 1 locations
whereas BIS does not permit this and restricts its use in Group II
Zone 2 only. This stipulation covers major Ex equipment like luminaries,
motors and terminal housing.
- IEC
permits type testing of Exd IIC equipment like Exd IIA and IIB equipment
whereas BIS requires batch testing.
The above
stipulation leads to:
- Multiple
inventory and related cost, since the international manufacturers
are manufacturing only Exd IIC equipment to be used in Group II Zone
1 area, whereas the Indian manufacturers are forced to make Exd IIC
and Exd IIA and IIB equipment separately.
- Exd
IIC equipment are not available readily. There is also an additional
cost to users due to batch testing. The additional cost is due to
the testing fee, transportation charges on material to and fro from
manufacturers works to testing lab besides related overheads.
- Additional
cost to users due to use of Exd equipment in place of Exe equipment
in Zone 1.
It has
been a practice for BIS to align BIS codes with IEC codes. One of the
prominent and closely related example being IS 13947 (Part 1): 1993,
which is identical to IEC 947-1: 1988 for specification for low voltage
switchgear and control gear. BIS as representative of India is a participating
member to IEC Committee no. 31 responsible for preparation of IEC codes
for Ex equipment.
In view
of above, it is essential that BIS codes pertaining to Ex equipment
be aligned with relevant IEC codes by adopting identical codes to IEC
as in case of IS 13947 above. This will ensure acceptability of Indian
products at par with international products and will also remove the
above-cited disadvantages to the Indian manufacturers.
Product
Testing and Certification
Central
Mining Research Institute (CMRI), Dhanbad, Central Power Research Institute
(CPRI), Bangalore and ERTL, Kolkata are having product testing and certification
facility for Ex equipment. UL and FM in USA, CSA in Canada and EECS,
PTB and many more agencies in Europe have testing and certification
facility.
IEC gives
recognition to Ex Testing Laboratories (ExTL) for testing and certification
of Ex equipment under IECEx scheme. This scheme is elaborated in more
detail under the next heading of Product Quality Control.
It is essential
that all the above test labs (CMRI, CPRI and ERTL) get the recognition
from IEC as ExTL under IECEx scheme, so that products tested and certified
by them have international acceptability.
