LS passes bill to make national body for harmonious development of standardisation of products and services

New Delhi: The Lok Sabha yesterday passed a bill to establish the Bureau of Indian Standards as a National Standards Body for harmonious development of standardization and assessment and quality assurance of goods, processes and services.

Replying to a debate on the bill in the House, Food and Consumer Affair Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said, the bill contains provision to make misuse of Standard mark as a cognizable offence. He also said, contravention of provisions of the law will attract imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year or with fine of at least one lakh rupees.

Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The Bureau of Indian Standards Bill, 2015 also seeks to broaden its ambit, and allow the Central government to make it mandatory for certain notified goods, articles and processes to carry the standard mark. It also allows multiple types of conformity assessment schemes in tune with best global practices.

The fine and imprisonment may go up further depending on the value of goods produced or sold or applied with standard mark including hallmark. Responding to concerns of the members about adulteration of food articles, Mr Paswan said, the Government will come up with a new Consumer Protection legislation to address these problems.