44th ISO COPOLCO PLENARY

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Context

• India is hosting the 44th edition of the coveted annual ISO COPOLCO Plenary in New Delhi.

About ISO COPOLCO

• Committee on Consumer Policy, is a committee of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) responsible for promoting consumer interests in the standardization process and for ensuring that standards are developed with the needs of consumers in mind.
• Creation date: 1978
• Membership: COPOLCO membership is open to interested member bodies as participating (P) or observer (O) members and to interested correspondent members as observer (O) members.
• Terms of reference:
  • To study means of helping consumers to benefit from standardization, and means of improving consumer participation in national and international standardization.
  • To provide a forum for the exchange of information on the experience of consumer participation in the development and implementation of standards in the consumer field, and on other questions of interest to consumers in national and international standardization.
  • To advise ISO Council as to the consolidated viewpoints of consumers on matters relevant to ISO's current and potential standardization and conformity assessment work.
  • To advise ISO Council on the need for new or revised policies or actions within ISO as they relate to consumers' needs.

About International Standards Organisation (ISO)

• It is an international body with 168 countries as members, develops standards for the world impacting a diverse range of business and social sectors.
• Through their consumer committee on standards development (COPOLCO), ISO involves the wider public in the process of standardization.
• India has since long been actively involved in matters of international standardization and was one of the founding members of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).
• ISO was founded on 23 February 1947.
• It has 811 Technical committees and sub committees to take care of standards development.
• The organization develops and publishes standardization in all technical and nontechnical fields other than electrical and electronic engineering, which is handled by the IEC.
• It is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.
• The three official languages of the ISO are English, French, and Russian.
• The International Organization for Standardization is an independent, non-governmental organization, whose membership consists of different national standards bodies.

About BIS

• The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) is the National Standards Body of India under Department of Consumer affairs, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution.
• It is established by the Bureau of Indian Standards Act, 2016 which came into effect on 12 October 2017.
• The Minister in charge of the Ministry or Department having administrative control of the BIS is the ex-officio President of the BIS.

History

• The organisation was formerly the Indian Standards Institution (ISI), set up under the Resolution of the Department of Industries and Supplies in 1946.
• The ISI was registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860.

Membership

• As a National Standards Body, it has 25 members drawn from Central or State Governments, industry, scientific and research institutions, and consumer organisations.

Headquarters

• Its headquarters are in New Delhi, with regional offices in Eastern Region at Kolkata, southern Region at Chennai, Western Region at Mumbai, Northern Region at Chandigarh and Central Region at Delhi and 20 branch offices.
• It also works as WTO-TBT enquiry point for India.

Role of BIS in ISO

• In its capacity as the National Standards Body of India, BIS is actively involved in matters of international and regional standardization.
• BIS is a member of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and through the Indian National Committee (INC) is a member of the International Electro technical Commission (IEC).
• BIS is also a member of regional standards bodies like the Pacific Area Standards Congress (PASC), and the South Asian Regional Standards Organization (SARSO) and is under the framework of IBSA (India, Brazil and South Africa).

https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1926246