Indian Standards Strategy: Development of Indian Standards (IS)
The process
for the formulation of Indian Standards is geared towards meeting the demands
of industry, maintaining state-of-the-art technology, delivering standards in a
timely manner, and harmonizing IS with international (ISO/IEC) standards. BIS follows ISO/IEC guidelines for standards
development, as well as the WTO/TBT Code of Good Practice.
BIS is engaged in formulation of Indian Standards for the
following sectors:
- Basic & Production Engineering
- Chemicals
- Civil Engineering
- Electronics and Information Technology
- Electro-technical
- Food and Agriculture
- Management and systems
- Mechanical engineering
- Medical Equipment and Hospital Planning
- Metallurgical Engineering
- Petroleum, Coal and Related products
- Service
- Transport Engineering
- Textile
- Water Resources
Each of these sectors has a Division Council to oversee and supervise its work. BIS publishes a detailed Work Programme for each of the 16 Division Councils once a year on 1 April. The Work Programme,
besides outlining the scope of each Division Council and Sectional (Technical) Committee, contains committee positions on standards published and draft standards at different stages of preparation. Copies of the
Work Programme (and also of wide circulation drafts for comments during the
wide circulation period) can be obtained from BIS’ Director of the concerned Technical
Divisions in New Delhi.
The Work Programme is updated through Standards Monthly Additions (SMA), a monthly publication which contains information on standards published (new and revised), amendments to standards, draft standards for comments,
standards withdrawn and standards proposed for withdrawal up to 15th of the preceding month. Single copies of SMA can be obtained from sales outlets at
the headquarters, regional offices and branch offices of BIS.
IS
Technical Committees (TCs) are designed to represent a balance of interests,
and are composed of manufacturers, consumers, regulators, other government
officials, academics, and technical experts.
When
a new subject is proposed for standardization, it is submitted to the
appropriate Technical Committee as a first draft standard. The draft is then circulated to Committee
Members for comments and review twice before circulation to the public for a
comment period of 30 to 90 days. Following the public review, the Technical Committee meets to
incorporate public comments and then submits the final draft to the Division
Council for adoption as an Indian Standard. The process is summarized in the diagram below:
Bureau of Indian Standards.
Overview of Indian Standards.
Search BIS’ online catalogue of Indian Standards.
FAQ - Indian Standards System
