What is the full form of BIS

BIS: Bureau of Indian Standards

BIS stands for Bureau of Indian Standards. It is the National Standard Body of India engaged in the preparation and implementation of the standards, certification schemes for products and systems, testing and calibration services etc. It is headquartered in New Delhi and has five regional offices which are located in Chandigarh, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, and Delhi. As of 2015, Smt. Alka Panda is the Director General of BIS.

BIS came into existence on 1 April 1987 by an act of parliament dated 26 November 1986. It is the successor of the Indian Standard Institution (ISI). It works under the aegis of Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution of India.

Objectives

• Harmonious development of standardization related to marking and quality certification
• To promote the standardization and quality control
• To evolve a national strategy for the recognition of standards and integrating them with development of production and exports

Major Activities

• Standards Formulation
• Product Certification Schemes
• Foreign Manufacturers Certification Scheme
• Hall Marking Scheme
• Laboratory Recognition Scheme
• Product Schemes
• Consumer Related Activities
• International activities
• Training services - National Institute of Training for Standardisation

Benefits of BIS

BIS helps the national economy in several ways as follows:

• Ensures safe reliable quality goods for consumers
• Minimizes health hazards to consumers
• Promotes exports and imports substitutes
• Controls the proliferation of varieties

Framework For Law

Since October 12th, 2017, the Bureau of Indian Standards Act, 2016, has been in effect. The revised BIS Act's salient features include:

• Places BIS in the role of the National Standards Body.
• Allows a variety of compliance evaluation methods in accordance with international standards.
• Enables the Government to delegate certification and enforcement of conformance to a standard to any agency other than BIS.
• Enables the government to compel product certification for reasons related to national security, environmental protection, health and safety, and the avoidance of misleading practices.
• Enables the government to require mandatory certification for the hallmarking of precious metal products.
• Offers steps to safeguard consumers, including the recall of goods with standard markings that are not in compliance, consumer compensation, and more severe legal penalties.

International Activities

The greatest global developer of voluntary International Standards is the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), an independent, non-governmental membership organisation. BIS is a founding member of ISO and participates actively in the creation of international standards by serving as a Participating (P) or Observer (O) member on a number of technical committees, subcommittees, working groups, etc.

The International Electro-Technical Commission (IEC), which was established in 1906, is the foremost body in the world for the development and dissemination of International Standards for all electrical, electronic, and related technologies. BIS is India's IEC representative.

BIS actively participates in regional and bi-lateral cooperation programmes related to standardisation, testing, certification, training, etc. BIS has so far signed a number of MoUs with national standards organisations from different nations. Additionally, BIS actively participates in the development and application of regional standards as well as the South Asian Regional Standards Organization's conformity assessment programme for the SAARC nations (SARSO).

BIS is the National Enquiry Point for World Trade Organization - Technical Barriers to Trade (WTO-TBT) Matters.

Hallmarking

Adding a hallmark to jewellery to give consumers third-party assurance on the purity or fineness of gold jewellery, BIS initiated the hallmarking of gold jewellery in April 2000. In October 2005, the Silver Jewellery and Artifacts Hallmarking Scheme was introduced. Assaying & Hallmarking (A&H) centres are authorised to test the purity of the jewellery received from the registered jeweller along with a declaration of purity and apply a hallmark on such jewellery which is found to conform to relevant Indian Standard including declared fineness. Under the hallmarking scheme, jewellers are granted a certificate of registration to sell jewellery that has been hallmarked.

Consumer Affairs and Publicity

Through a variety of awareness programmes, BIS aims to raise awareness and encourage quality among all of its customers:

Consumer Awareness Programs: Consumer awareness programmes are regularly organised by various regional offices and Branch offices of BIS, occasionally in collaboration with Consumer Organizations, to promote the idea of standardisation, certification, and quality consciousness among consumers.

Industry Awareness Programs: The BIS runs these programmes to spread the idea of standardisation, product certification, management system certification, and other BIS operations across the industries.

Programs for the Educational Utilization of Standards (EUS) are run by BIS to introduce students and faculty in schools, colleges, and other educational institutions to the ideas and advantages of standardisation.

World Standards Day: It is celebrated by BIS on October 14 in honour of the collaborative efforts of thousands of professionals across the globe who create voluntary technical agreements that are disseminated as International or National Standards.

Public Concerns: Concerning BIS-certified products, consumer complaints are routinely investigated and followed up for resolution.

Publicity: BIS's publicity campaign aims to raise awareness of its various programmes among its target market, which includes the general public and members of the industry. These programmes are particularly important in relation to standardisation, certification of goods and services, and the hallmarking of gold jewellery.