New Delhi, Jun 1 (IANS): The Research Design and Standards Organisation (RDSO) on Tuesday became the first Institution to be declared Standard Developing Organisation (SDO) under "One Nation One Standard" mission on Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS).

Addressing a press conference here, Railway Board Chairman Suneet Sharma said that the RDSO of Indian Railways has become the first Institution to be declared SDO under one "One Nation One Standard" mission on BIS which is Institution under Department of Consumer Affairs.

He said that this a unique initiative of two organisations under government is going to set a template for all the rest of leading research and standard development organisations in the country to follow and adapt World Class Standards.

In a statement, the railway ministry said: "To attain 'One Nation One Standard' vision of the government, BIS has launched a scheme which provides for 'Recognition of SDO' and through this scheme, BIS aims at aggregating and integrating the existing capabilities and dedicated domain specific expertise available with various organisations in the country engaged in standards development in their specific sectors, and enable convergence of all standard development activities in the country resulting in 'One National Standard for One Subject'."

It said that RDSO, which is the sole research and design wing of Railways, is one of India's leading Standard formulating Body undertaking standardisation work for railway sector.

It further said that the RDSO took the initiative to seek recognition as a SDO under the BIS SDO Recognition Scheme. In the process, RDSO reviewed its Standard Formulation procedures to realign them with the Best Practices of Standardisation, encoded in the WTO-TBT "Code of Good Practice" and also mandated by the BIS as essential criteria for recognition as SDO.

It said that the recognition is valid for three years and will require renewal after completion of the validity period.