Selling Auto Parts Online: Who Each Rule Binds
Most automotive component rules bind the vehicle maker at the assembly line, not the seller of a replacement part. Knowing where each instrument actually attaches saves a quarter of chasing certificates nobody was required to give you.
- Rule 124 of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989 notifies component standards for parts used in the manufacture of a vehicle, with prototype approval and Form 22 certification sitting on the manufacturer. It is not an aftermarket approval regime.
- Tyres and tubes are the clear compulsory line: the Pneumatic Tyres and Tubes for Automotive Vehicles (Quality Control) Order, 2009, S.O. 2953(E), in force from 3 May 2011, covering IS 15627, IS 15633, IS 15636 and IS 13098.
- Section 17(2) of the Bureau of Indian Standards Act, 2016 bars a public claim that goods conform to an Indian standard without a valid licence or certificate of conformity, whether or not the goods are notified. Listing copy is a public claim.
- Accessories can be lawful to sell and unlawful to fit. Section 52 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, CMVR rule 100 on light transmission and rule 119(2) on multi-toned horns all bind the owner, and the return still lands on you.
An importer lands two pallets. One holds brake pads, the other holds tyres. Only one of them needs a licence from the Bureau of Indian Standards before it can legally sit in a fulfilment centre. Nothing about the products tells you which.
Two wheeler helmets are the exception most sellers have heard of, and they are handled separately in helmet and protective gear certification. This post is about everything else in the box.
The rule people quote binds the vehicle maker
Rule 124 of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989 is headed Safety standards of components, and it is the rule most compliance summaries point at. Its scope is narrower than the heading suggests. Sub-rule (1) lets the Central Government notify standards for any part, component or assembly to be used in the manufacture of a vehicle, then requires every manufacturer to use only those parts in the manufacture of that vehicle.
Sub-rule (2) keeps the obligation in the same place. The manufacturer gets the prototype of the part, component or subassembly approved by an agency named in rule 126, by the Central Institute of Road Transport, Pune, or by a laboratory authorised by the Bureau, then certifies compliance in Form 22. Rule 127 closes the loop: the sale of every motor vehicle manufactured must be accompanied by a roadworthiness certificate in Form 22 from its manufacturer.
Rule 126 is about the vehicle, not the part. It requires the manufacturer or importer to submit the vehicle prototype to a named test agency, and a proviso inserted in 2002 says the type approval procedure follows AIS:017-2000, as amended.
So the apparatus attaches at two points, the assembly line and the registration counter. A replacement wheel bearing sold to a car registered eight years ago passes through neither. That negative is worth writing down, because a seller who assumes type approval reaches aftermarket stock spends a quarter chasing a certificate nobody was required to produce.
Tyres are the line that is genuinely compulsory
The Pneumatic Tyres and Tubes for Automotive Vehicles (Quality Control) Order, 2009 was notified as S.O. 2953(E) on 19 November 2009 under section 14 of the Bureau of Indian Standards Act, 1986, and came into force on 3 May 2011. Its schedule carries four entries and no more: IS 15627 for two and three wheeled motor vehicle tyres, IS 15633 for passenger car tyres, IS 15636 for commercial vehicle tyres, and IS 13098 for tubes. The operative clause bars any person from manufacturing, importing, storing for sale, selling or distributing tyres that do not conform to the specified standard and do not carry the Standard Mark under a certification licence.
The exemptions are narrow and written for vehicle makers rather than sellers: tyres made in India for export, tyres imported inside a completely built unit, tyres imported by an OEM for fitment on vehicles built here, tyres for research and development. A trader buying replacement tyres for the Indian aftermarket is inside the order.
The sentence that catches your listing copy
Section 17 of the Bureau of Indian Standards Act, 2016 has two halves, and the second is the one sellers miss. Sub-section (1) is the expected prohibition: for goods notified under section 16, no person shall manufacture, import, distribute, sell, hire, lease, store or exhibit for sale without the Standard Mark under a valid licence. Sub-section (2) is wider. It bars any public claim, through advertisements, leaflets, price lists or the like, that your goods conform to an Indian standard without a valid certificate of conformity or licence.
That sub-section is not confined to notified goods. A bullet reading ISI quality, or made to IS 15633, on an article no order covers, is still a public claim of conformity to an Indian standard. Auto parts listings are full of them, lifted from supplier decks nobody read. The fix costs nothing: hold the licence or delete the claim. Electronics runs on a different scheme, set out in BIS CRS certification for electronics.
Accessories can be lawful to sell and unlawful to fit
This is the split that makes the accessories half of the category awkward. Section 52(1) of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 says no owner shall so alter a vehicle that the particulars in the certificate of registration are at variance with those originally specified by the manufacturer, and section 52(3) requires an unapproved alteration to be reported within fourteen days.
Two CMVR rules turn that into shelf level detail. Rule 100 sets the light transmission floor for glazing: not less than 70 per cent for the windscreen and rear window, not less than 50 per cent for side windows, against IS 2553 Part 2. Rule 119(2) bars fitting any multi-toned horn giving a succession of different notes, or any other sound producing device giving an unduly harsh, shrill, loud or alarming noise.
None of that stops you selling a dark film or a novelty horn. It stops your customer using one. The cost still lands on you, as a return after a traffic stop and a review that reads like a warning to the next buyer.
Batteries bring a second regulator
The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change published the Battery Waste Management Rules, 2022 on 24 August 2022, replacing the Batteries (Management and Handling) Rules, 2001. They cover electric vehicle, portable, automotive and industrial batteries, and run on extended producer responsibility. The producer, which the ministry states includes the importer, is responsible for collection and for recycling or refurbishment, landfill and incineration are prohibited, and environmental compensation applies where obligations are missed.
Import lead acid batteries and sell them under your own label and you are the producer. That is a registration and a reporting rhythm, not a document filed once.
What to write down before the range goes live
Five lines per article, kept where the buying team can see them. Whether this exact article is named in a quality control order, written down even when the answer is no. Who holds the licence, against which factory address and standard. What conformity claim the listing makes, and whether you can evidence it. Whether fitting the article is lawful on a registered vehicle. Whether you are the producer under the battery rules. The evidence file itself is covered in product safety documents for a marketplace audit.
The certificate is the easy half. The hard half is telling a buyer whether the part fits their car, which is a data problem of its own.