Non-ISI Helmet Banned In India From June 1, 2021: Here Are All Details

The ban greatly affected the sale of non-ISI helmets including international brands which didn't have the ISI mark. So, this meant that even the International brands had to adhere to the ISI standards.

However, very soon the rules were revised to allow the sales of international helmets, as long as the brand's helmets met with the BIS norms. The BIS norms came into the picture when the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways issued a notification in November 2020.

The new statement put the 2-wheeler helmets under the BIS standards, and the following notification banned the sale of helmets that didn't meet the BIS standards.

The norm not only attracts hefty fines to the user of non-BIS helmets, but the new rules will punish both the sale and manufacturing of such helmets. The punishment will include imprisonment up to 1 year or attract fines of up to Rs. 5 lakhs.

Thoughts on new helmet rules and regulations

As we have seen in the past, few state governments have struggled to successfully implement these type of rules uniformly throughout their state, and only very few states carry out routine checks uniformly to implement these rules.

Even though this type of rules will promote the sale and usage of safer helmets in the country, it is yet to be seen how aggressively the government will implement these rules.