Why in news? BIS issues standards for organizations publishing consumer reviews. The standard prescribes specific responsibilities for the review author and the review administrator

Highlights

• Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), the National Standard Body of India, has published an Indian Standard, IS 19000:2022, ‘Online Consumer Reviews – Principles and Requirements for their Collection, Moderation and Publication’.

What is the main aim of the standard?

• It provides requirements and recommendations for the principles and methods for review administrators to apply in their collection, moderation and publication of online consumer reviews.
• Applicable to any organization that publishes consumer reviews online, including suppliers/sellers of products and services that collect reviews from their own customers, a third-party contracted by the suppliers/sellers or an independent third party.

Why this standard is important ?

• Lays down the process to demonstrates the commitment of consumer review and provide reviews that can be trusted.
• It would help building confidence among consumers to purchase goods online and help them take better purchase decisions.
• The standard is expected to benefit all stakeholders in the e-commerce ecosystem, i.e. consumers, e-commerce platforms, sellers etc.
• Reviews posted online influencing purchase decisions and consumers exceedingly rely on reviews to see the opinion and experience of users who have already purchased the goods or services
• It helps to build confidence in the quality, integrity, accuracy and transparency of reviews.

About Bureau of Indian Standards

• It is the National Standards Body of India
• Parent Organization : Department of Consumer affairs Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, Government of India.
• Statue: Established by the Bureau of Indian Standards Act, 2016
• Members: It has 25 members drawn from Central or State Governments, industry, scientific and research institutions, and consumer organisation
• Headquarters : New Delhi
• Director General: Pramod Kumar Tiwari, IAS
• Founder member of International Organization for Standardization (ISO).
• International Organization : It represents in the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) and the World Standards Service Network (WSSN).
• For Indian manufacturers : Product Certifications are to be obtained voluntarily.
• For, some of the products like Milk powder, Drinking Water, LPG Cylinders, etc certification is mandatory.
• Foreign manufacturers : Intend to export to India also may obtain a BIS product certification license.