Report by the Secretariat (WT/TPR/S/249): Certification and conformity assessment: para 197:
BIS is India's national certifying body, according to paragraph 197. It appears that it is not accredited as a certification body, however – the NABCB website states that accreditation as a product certification body was withdrawn at BIS's request in March 2008.
We would like to know why BIS withdrew from this quality assurance framework.
In lieu of accreditation against international standards, what mechanisms has the Indian government put in place to ensure the competence and quality of BIS's certification scheme?
Reply: BIS never sought accreditation for its product certification scheme from any accreditation body.
BIS is a statutory body under an Act of parliament for the purpose of standardization and certification. BIS adheres to the prescribed statutory mechanism, which is based on international standards, to ensure the competence and quality of its certification scheme.
New Zealand 16:
Report by the Secretariat (WT/TPR/S/249): para 198:
The BIS product certification scheme allows some participation by foreign producers, as described in paragraph 198. They must be assessed and licensed by BIS. It does not appear that there is any provision for recognising foreign certification bodies as competent to certify that the requirements of relevant standards and technical regulations have been met. In particular, there is no reference to use of international systems of accreditation – i.e. recognising or designating certification bodies accredited under the umbrella of the peer reviewed IAF6 multilateral recognition arrangement (MLA).
We would appreciate hearing why India does not recognise foreign certification bodies through relying on the assurances of competence provided by the IAF system.
In the context of steadily increasing international trade, is India considering moving to rely on the IAF system?
Reply: As per provisions of BIS Act, 1986, the statutory powers of granting a licence to use the standard mark rests with BIS only. However, provisions exist in the BIS Act to recognize agents for carrying out inspection and/or testing activities.
New Zealand 17:
Report by the Secretariat (WT/TPR/S/249): para 199, 200, 203:
On the same theme, the BIS product certification scheme, as described in paragraphs 199 200 and 203, appears to require laboratory testing of products in Indian laboratories only. Paragraph 199 states that India recognises foreign laboratories under the provisions of the BIS Act 1986. We found lists of recognised laboratories on the BIS website, but all were located in India.
We would appreciate receiving a list of foreign laboratories that have been recognised.
We would also like to receive the criteria that they were required to meet in order to be approved.
Reply: Till date, no foreign laboratory has filed an application for recognition under BIS Lab Recognition Scheme. Any lab that qualifies the criteria set by the Lab Recognition Scheme (LRS), can apply to BIS and after satisfactory audit by BIS, recognition can be granted to foreign lab also.
