Thursday, October 16, 2014: Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has approached the government to abolish the clause which allows items, like non-standard electrical and electronics Chinese products and Indian products like helmets, toothpaste and razors etc, to be sold in the open market without any compliance to industry standards.
BIS has been urging the Centre either to make amendments to the existing law or make an ordinance to make it compulsory that all products on sale should comply with industry standards. Presently, the standards are applicable only to 122 category of items, as per the Industrial Development Regulation Act. As mentioned on TOI, a consumer affairs department official said, more items should be brought under the mandatory regime to ensure better safety of consumers. BIS director general Sunil Soni echoed the same as he said that all items sold in the country should meet certain standards and the requirement is not only for imported items but for domestic products too. If a new ordinance arrives, then a non-BIS mark product couldn’t be sold anyhow.
Soni also added that international trade agreements permit no country that separate standards are followed for imported and domestic goods. So some certain standards should be made mandatory for manufacturers. He added in Europe the compliance rate is 100 per cent and India is following their footsteps now. He also added that lots of products meet the standards but they are not yet mandatory. So an amendment to law is highly required and an ordinance too. As per sources BSI is already in talks with other departments to set standards like Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE). As learnt by TOI, BIS is also planning to set up a special wing to pick up random samples from the market and carry tests to find compliance. The government thinks loads of applications will come forward for standard certifications and thus, the government is pushing for more “self certification” by the manufacturers. Soni also supported this move as 80 per cent business globally is done on self certification mode. But that shouldn’t mean entire freedom for any manufacturer.
Soni said further, products should be tested in BIS labs or test centres before self certification as in the later stage, if any product is found to be violating the norms then the penalty will be stricter. The consumer affairs department has pushed for “mandatory recall” in the proposed amendment of the BIS Act and as Soni said, BIS is involving with several agencies in the process too.
