What is Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS)?

About Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS)

• BIS is the National Standard Body of India established under the BIS Act 2016 for the harmonious development of the activities of standardization, marking, and quality certification of goods and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.
• The BIS is the successor of the Indian Standards Institution (ISI), which was created in 1947 to ensure quality control and competitive efficiency in the rapid industrialization expected in the early decades of India’s independence.
• BIS is functioning under the administrative control of the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution.
• BIS has been providing traceability and tangibility benefits to the national economy in a number of ways: providing safe, reliable quality goods; minimizing health hazards to consumers; promoting exports and imports substitute; control over proliferation of varieties etc. through standardization, certification, and testing.
• It operates product certification schemes through which it grants licenses to manufacturers covering practically every industrial discipline, from agriculture and textiles to electronics.
• Certification by the BIS is mandatory for certain classes of products—such as milk powder, X-ray equipment, and gas cylinders—that directly affect public health and safety.
• In other cases, voluntary, or optional certification or self-certification by the manufacturer may be permitted.
• The BIS employs a large staff of engineers, scientists, and statisticians; testing is carried out in its own laboratories as well as in independent facilities that demonstrate compliance with laboratory guidelines established by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). 
• The agency is headquartered in New Delhi and maintains regional and branch offices throughout the country.

Q1) What is the International Organization for Standardization (ISO)?

ISO is an independent, non-governmental international organization made up of members from the national standards bodies of 168 countries. The Central Secretariat of ISO is in Geneva, Switzerland. India is one of the founding members of ISO. It develops standards for the world impacting a diverse range of business and social sectors.

Source: Proposals worth over ₹340 Crore screened seeking testing facilities in government laboratories across sectors from Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS)