Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan on Friday said market surveillance for standards and product testing has been made more effective and the amendments for the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) finalised.
Simplified standards conformity schemes have been launched for the industry to easily adopt and manufacture standardised products, Paswan, the food and civil supplies minister, said in a press conference.
Stating that five new BIS laboratories would be set up by March 2016 and the existing labs modernised, the minister said tghe government was launching a mobile app to enable consumers to verify the genuineness of BIS marked products.
"This is in addition to empowering common consumers to get ISI marked products tested in BIS labs," he added.
Delving more on consumer protection, the union minister said the government was planning to amend the Consumer Protection Act of 1986 and felt that there should be consumer courts in every district of the country.
Stating that many customers visiting a jewellery shop do not know the difference between 22-carat grade gold and nine carat grade gold, Paswan said the government has plans to make it mandatory for jewellery showrooms to prominently display information and also place a magnifying glass for examining gold.
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For monitoring misleading advertisements, a dedicated portal www.gama.gov was launched to receive complaints.
The sectors covered under Grievance Against Misleading Advertisements (GAMA) are food and agriculture, education, health, real estate, transport and financial services.