Parliament clears Bureau of Indian Standards Bill 2015

Parliament has passed the Bureau of Indian Standards Bill 2015 with the Rajya Sabha approving it on Tuesday.

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.

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.