Context: Recently, the Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution has launched the Bureau of Indian Standard (BIS) Mobile App ‘BIS-Care’ and three portals namely the Standardization, Conformity Assessment and Training Portals of e-BIS for consumers.

• BIS is the National Standard Body of India for the harmonious development of the activities of standardization, marking and quality certification of goods.

About BIS-Care App

• The app can be operated on any Android phone and is operational in Hindi and English language.
• Consumers can check the authenticity of the ISI-marked and hallmarked products and lodge complaints using this app.
• It is important to ensure that consumers are aware of the standards and quality products and help in eliminating the supply of sub-standard products.
• e-BIS:
• e-BIS is an integrated portal covering all functions of BIS, enlisting the services of outside agencies for factory and market surveillance and development of mobile app-based and Artificial Intelligence (AI) enabled surveillance methods.
• Certification and surveillance to enforce the implementation of standards is an important aspect of BIS functioning which is also strengthening its capacity of enforcement by the implementation of e-BIS.

Other Steps Taken

• BIS has been playing an important role in the formulation of Quality Control Orders (QCO) to make the standards mandatory.
• It has actively collaborated with various Ministries and Departments to help them issue QCOs for various products.
• After standards become mandatory, manufacturers, both domestic and foreign, have to comply with them.
• BIS is developing a portal on Consumer Engagement, which will facilitate the online registration of Consumer Groups, submission of proposals and approval thereof and complaint management.
• BIS plans to implement One Nation, One Standard which is under examination and will be launched soon.
• For that purpose, it has formulated a scheme for the recognition of other Standard Development Organizations in the country with the objective of harmonization of the standard formulation.
• The Standard National Action Plan has been approved and important sectors of the economy for the development of standards have been identified.
• BIS developed Covid-19 standards for Cover-all and Ventilators and issued norms for grant of licence for N95 Masks, surgical masks and eye protectors which has resulted in an increased production of ISI-marked Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) items.
• BIS has expanded and modernised its labs and has been creating testing facilities for drinking water and assaying of gold jewellery.
• It has formulated a comprehensive Training Policy and has been imparting training to various stakeholders through its National Institute of Standardization at Noida.
• There have been efforts to integrate the standards into the curriculum of professional education in the country and for that, an Approach Paper has been developed and shared with the Ministry of Human Resource Development, All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and other stakeholders.

Road Ahead

• To achieve the objectives of Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan and protect the interests of consumers, BIS had to further strengthen its efforts to formulate standards in the areas important for boosting India’s exports and regulating the import of cheap and sub-standard products.