Lok Sabha Question No. 1195 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-12-18
Subject: Bureau of Indian Standards
Ministry: CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION
Asked by: SHOBHA KARANDLAJE, PRATHAP SIMHA

## Government of India

## Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Department of Consumer Affairs

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1195

TO BE ANSWERED ON 18.12.2018

## BUREAU OF INDIAN STANDARDS

## 1195.   KUMARI SHOBHA KARANDLAJE: SHRI PRATHAP SIMHA:

Will  the  Minister  of  CONSUMER  AFFAIRS,  FOOD  AND  PUBLIC  DISTRIBUTION miHkksDrk ekeys] [kk| vkSj lkoZtfud forj.k ea=h be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government has reviewed the activities of Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) the  new  initiatives  of  the  Government  on  the  Effective  Implementation  of  the provisions of new BIS Act, 2016;
- (c) whether  the  Government  has  reviewed  issues  related  to  improvement  in  core activities of the BIS and if so, the details thereof;
- (d) the  core  activities  and  objectives  of  setting  up  of  BIS  and  the  new  thrust  areas identified By BIS; and
- (e) the physical and financial achievements of product certification scheme of BIS?

## ANSWER

## miHkksDrk ekeys] [kk| vkSj lkoZtfud forj.k jkT; ea=h ¼Jh lh- vkj- pkS/kjh½

## THE MINISTER OF STATE CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION (SHRI C. R. CHAUDHARY)

- (a)   :  Yes  Madam.    Review  of  Bureau  of  Indian  Standards  (BIS)  activities  by  the Department of Consumer Affairs is a continuous process and such reviews are carried out through Review Meetings, Management Control Report (MCR) etc. From time to time directions are issued to BIS by the Department to achieve targets related to core activities  and  to  take  action  for  improvement  in  the  areas  where such improvement is required.
- (b)  :  Some of the important initiatives taken for effective implementation of the BIS Act, 2016 are :
- (i) Notification  of  new BIS  (Hallmarking)  Regulations,  2018  under  the  Act. The  Central  Government  has  also  notified  'Gold  jewellery  and  gold artefacts'  and  'Silver  jewellery  and  silver  artefacts'  to  be  marked  with Hallmark.
- (ii) The  BIS  (Conformity  Assessment)  Regulations,  2018 has  been  notified under  the  Act.The  Regulations  provide  for multiple  types  of  simplified conformity assessment schemes including Self Declaration Of Conformity (SDOC) against any standard which will give multiple simplified options to manufacturers to adhere to the standards and get certificate of conformity, thus improving the 'ease of doing business'.
- (iii) Penal provisions for better and effective compliance and to enable compounding  of  offences  for  violations  have  been  made  stringent  under new regulation.
- (iv) Guideline for procedure to be followed by the line Ministries for making the use of a mark under licence or certificate of conformity compulsory, and also procedure for approving and authorizing any other agency, for carrying out conformity assessment activities under Section 16(1) of BIS Act 2016.

(c) : On the basis of reviews improvement in core activities of BIS such as Standards Formulation,  Certification,  Hallmarking,  Laboratory  Testing,  Consumer  Affairs  and International  Cooperation  etc.  are  undertaken.  Government  has  laid  emphasis  on  easy redressal mechanism  of  complaints,  mandatory  certification,  enhancing  consumer confidence through publicity and various other interactive measures.

(d) :     BIS has been established as the National Standards Body of India under the BIS Act,  2016.  The  main  objectives  of  BIS  is  harmonious  development  of  activities  of Standardisation, marking and quality certification of goods. The standards and certification  scheme  of  BIS  apart  from  benefitting  the  consumers  and  industry  also support various public policies especially in areas of product safety,  consumer protection, food safety, environment protection, building and construction, etc.

New  thrust  areas  identified  in  standardization  are  (i)  Alternate  fuels,  (ii)  Emobility, (iii) Medical Devices, (iv) Smart Cities, (v) Digital Technologies (e.g. Industry 4.0, Artificial Intelligence, Block Chain etc.) and (vi) New and Renewable energy.

(e) : As on 25 th October 2018, total number of Indian Standards covered under Product certification was 959 and number of operative licences were 34641. 14765 registrations have been done under the BIS registration scheme covering different product  categories.  Under  the  Management  System  Certification  and  Hallmarking Schemes, 1270 and 25085 liceneces respectively are operative.

Income under Product Certification during the year 2017-18 was Rs. 498.75 crore and for the year 2018-19 (till 25 October 2018) is Rs.297.78 crore.

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