To help exporters overcome non-tariff barriers and technical hurdles of certain importing countries, the Centre will soon come out with a legal framework that will define, codify and regulate standards for export of manufactured goods.

The Centre is currently preparing draft regulations for “the conformity assessment mechanism” for exports and planning to create a regulator for overseeing the implementation of the proposed regulations through an Act of Parliament.

The Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion of the Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry has entrusted the National Accreditation Board for Certification Bodies (NABCB) with the task of preparing the draft Bill. “The draft, which is under preparation, will be ready in a month”, Anil Jauhri, CEO of NABCB, said on March 16.

India needs to harmonise its standards with those of the major importing countries of manufactured goods. Indian exporters also need to meet the conformity assessment requirements of the specific export markets.

As India develops equivalent of globally acceptable standards, harmonise local standards with the global ones, or adopt international standards directly at the time of regional trade agreements and come into mutual recognition agreements, it needs to have a comprehensive legislation for regulation of the standards.

Jauhri said the draft law would primarily legalise the standards and bring the conformity assessment entities such as accreditation, inspection, and certification bodies, including Bureau of Indian Standards, and testing laboratories, under a set of regulations. As of now, many of these assessment infrastructure entities do not follow any specific regulation for carrying on their activities.

“Most the certification entities in this country do not have an accreditation or undergo a registration process,” he said.

Their certificates in many cases proved valueless. The legislation would bring about credibility and acceptability of the certification processes.

“The proposed Bill will provide for creation of a regulator, with which these conformity assessment bodies would be registered,” the NABCB CEO explained. The Centre has already established the Quality Council of India, which operates as an autonomous body, under the DIPP.

Source: Business Line