What this document is
These are the first series guidelines written for the Electronics and Information Technology Goods (Requirements for Compulsory Registration) Order, 2012. That order covered 15 products. The guidelines tell laboratories and manufacturers when several models can be treated as one series, so that one test report covers them all instead of one test per model.
The document is dated “as on 13/05/2013” and runs to six pages. It is still published on the BIS CRS portal. MeitY’s CRS FAQs point applicants to MeitY’s series guidelines when they ask how near-identical models can be registered without separate tests.
The three rules in the document
- Product family. A family is defined by its maximum configuration of components and sub-assemblies, plus a description of how each model is built from it. Models in the family share the design, construction and essential parts that decide whether they meet the standard. If the product standard has its own definition of a family, that definition applies instead.
- How many samples (Rule A). One sample is tested for every ten models in a series. The sample must be the worst-case configuration from a safety-design point of view.
- Which models can be grouped (Rule B). Each of the 15 products has its own technical criteria, summarised below.
Grouping criteria by product
The criteria usually depend on how the product is powered: through an external adaptor, or from the mains through an internal power supply. In every case “same enclosure” allows for differences in decorative parts.
| Item | Product | Models can share a series if they have the same… |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Electronic games (video) | Power supply layout, chassis and battery arrangement. Mains models also need the same mains or SMPS layout, enclosure and processor speed |
| 2 | Laptops, notebooks, tablets | Voltage and current rating, PCB layout and enclosure. Other adaptor models and battery sources can be assessed with the main product |
| 3 | Plasma, LCD and LED TVs | Mains or SMPS board layout, enclosure, and power transformer design and insulation |
| 4 | Optical disc players with amplifiers | Adaptor (or mains/SMPS layout), PCB layout, enclosure and transformer design |
| 5 | Microwave ovens | Input power rating, mains layout, enclosure and magnetron power |
| 6 | Visual display units, video monitors | Mains or SMPS layout, enclosure and transformer design |
| 7 | Printers, plotters | Adaptor, PCB layout, mains or SMPS layout, enclosure and transformer design |
| 8 | Scanners | Adaptor (or mains/SMPS layout), PCB layout, enclosure and transformer design |
| 9 | Wireless keyboards | Enclosure. The battery is treated as a component |
| 10 | Telephone answering machines | As for scanners |
| 11 | Amplifiers | As for scanners |
| 12 | Electronic musical systems | Mains or SMPS layout, enclosure and transformer design |
| 13 | Electronic clocks with mains power | As for scanners, plus the same mounting mechanism |
| 14 | Set top boxes | As for scanners |
| 15 | Automatic data processing machines | As for scanners |
This table is our summary. The PDF has the full wording for each configuration.
Automatic data processing machines (item 15)
ADP machines are grouped in two ways:
- Adaptor-powered models need the same power adaptor, the same enclosure and the same PCB layout. Other adaptor models can be assessed as part of the main product.
- Models with an internal power supply need the same mains or SMPS board layout, the same enclosure and a power transformer of the same design and insulation system.
Rule A still applies, so a series of up to ten models is covered by one test of the worst-case model.
Whether a product counts as an ADP machine is a separate scope question. The MeitY CRS FAQs (2022) list data preparation, data processing and data storage equipment as ADP, exclude desktop computers, and treat networking devices such as wireless access points, controllers and switches as outside the order. For very large equipment such as servers, the FAQs allow the power supply and other safety-critical parts to be taken out and tested separately at the laboratory.
How we use these guidelines
When we plan a CRS test we list every model the client wants registered, work out the maximum configuration, and split the models by power supply design and enclosure. We then pick the worst-case model in each group and prepare the documents the laboratory and BIS need to accept the series. The FAQs make it clear that only the worst-case sample is submitted, but the series still has to be justified on paper.
Getting the grouping right is usually the biggest single saving in a CRS project. See BIS certification cost for how the number of test reports drives the fees.
Status in 2026
Most of these products (laptops, TVs, monitors, printers, scanners, set top boxes and ADP machines among them) are moving from IS 13252 (Part 1) and IS 616 to IS/IEC 62368-1:2023, with concurrent running until 1 November 2028. BIS’s migration guideline asks existing licensees to test every lead model to the new standard and says new series guidelines are to be issued by MeitY. Microwave ovens and electronic clocks are tested to IS 302 standards and are not part of that migration.