Parliament passes Bureau of Indian Standards Bill, 2015

In Indian Affairs
March 9, 2016

Parliament has passed the Bureau of Indian Standards Bill 2015 with the approval from the Rajya Sabha, the upper house. The Bill was passed by the Lok Sabha in last session. Replying to debate on the Bill, Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said it is in national interest. He said the government is trying to bring a Bill for Consumer Protection to protect their interests.

On June 17, 2015, the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, gave its approval to introduce a new Bureau of Indian Standards Bill [of 2015].

The Bill extends the ambit of the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) to include services, processes and products while ensuring production of world class goods. The Bill also proposes to make BIS a national standards body, introduce mandatory hallmarking of precious metals, prevent misuse of standard marks and provides for recall of ISI marked products not conforming to relevant standards.

Now, the Bureau of Indian Standards would also get the legislative backing to formally represent India abroad. At present, the BIS is not formally recognised as a national standards body of the country, though it has been representing India in various international bodies.

Did You Know?

The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) is the national Standards Body of India working under the aegis of Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, Government of India.
It is established by the Bureau of Indian Standards Act, 1986 which came into effect on 23 December 1986.
. Its headquarters are in New Delhi, with regional offices in Kolkata, Chennai,Mumbai, Chandigarh and Delhi and 20 branch offices.
BIS is a founder member of International Organisation for Standardization (ISO)
It represents India in the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) and the World Standards Service Network (WSSN).
National Institute of Training for Standardization (NITS) is a training institute of BIS which is set up in 1995. It is functioning from Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India.