The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) formulated two Indian standards - IS 14543 for packaged drinking water (PDW) and IS 13428 for packaged natural mineral water (PNMW).
These standards, which specify the quality parameters for the respective water sold in packaged form, are under mandatory BIS certification as per the Food Safety and Standards (Prohibition and Restriction on Sales) (Amendment) Regulations, 2011.
As per the regulation, “No person shall manufacture, sell or exhibit for sale, packaged natural mineral water and packaged drinking water, except under the BIS standard mark.”
This information was given by K V Thomas, minister of consumer affairs, food and public distribution, in a written reply in Rajya Sabha. He added that BIS ensures compliance of the standards of packaged drinking water (PDW) and packaged natural mineral water (PNMW) manufactured by its licensees through a well-defined certification scheme, wherein regular surveillance is done of the licensees by factory inspections and drawing of samples from the factory and the market, and their independent testing to check the conformity of the product to relevant Indian Standards (IS 14543 & IS 13428).
If such licensees are found not meeting the parameters prescribed in the relevant Indian Standards, actions like warning, stop marking, expiry of licenses and cancellation of licenses are taken.
Such actions depend on the seriousness of default and/or frequency of recurrence of failures or unsatisfactory operations of the licenses. The implementation of the FSS Act and Regulations rests with the states’ and Union Territories’ (UTs’) governments.
Accordingly, samples are drawn by state/UTs’ governments and action is taken against the offenders, in cases where samples are found to be non-conforming.
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