Increase of tariff or imposition of Quantitative Restriction are measures to regulate the volume of imports of particular commodities. Technical regulations, also called mandatory standards, play a much more important role globally in checking import of poor quality goods.

WTO Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) empowers member countries to mandate standards on goods with the objective of maintaining national security requirements; prevention of deceptive practices; protection of environment, animal or plant life or health; human health or safety. Similarly, WTO Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Measures empowers member countries to mandate standards on goods with the objective of protecting human, animal or plant life or health.

Various ministries and agencies in Government of India like Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), Ministry of Steel, Department of Electronics & Information Technology, etc. are pursuing these objectives and have mandated standards in the recent past. Any standard mandated by the national authority is equally applicable to domestically manufactured products as well as imported products.

Also, the Department of Commerce has been organizing National Standards Conclaves to sensitize stakeholders/ministries to meet the objectives of the standards like protection of human health or safety, animal or plant life or health, the prevention of deceptive practices, national security requirements or the environment with a view to protect the interests of consumers. The central government is also pursuing the agenda with the state governments and last year, five regional standards conclaves were organized to generate awareness across the country. This information was given by the Minister of State (Independent Charge) in the Ministry of Commerce & Industry Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today.

Mandatory standards empower regulation of imports; countries require equal application to domestic and imported goods. Technical regulation through mandatory standards, grounded in the WTO TBT and SPS Agreements, allows national authorities to require standards to protect security, prevent deceptive practices and safeguard health and the environment; Indian ministries have mandated such standards applicable equally to domestic and imported products, and the Department of Commerce organises conclaves to promote stakeholder awareness and compliance.