National quality infrastructure vital for economic development

By Dr. Lalith Senaweera

In today's global economy, competitiveness is tied up with the needs of world markets. The World Trade Organisation (WTO) has introduced the new multilateral trading system and therefore, the WTO agreements, negotiated and signed by a large majority of the world's trading nations and ratified in their Parliaments and bilateral and regional trade agreements provides new global rules of trade between nations.

The new global ground rules of trade in the WTO-TBT agreement encourage free movement of goods and that safety and quality of products be proved through credible, transparent and reliable conformity assessment systems which help to eliminate unnecessary technical barriers to trade.

This concept has created a situation where it is necessary to re-organise or develop the country's National Quality Infrastructures so that the conformity assessment systems implemented within the country meets the needs of the WTO-TBT agreement.

Therefore, it is a necessity to have a sound, reliable and transparent structures and mechanisms within a country to perform conformity assessment systems properly.

These mechanisms cover activities in the market as the market driven needs have to be maintained in setting up systems and structures so that those systems and structures support global demands.

Challenges

Sri Lanka, as a developing country is confronted with many challenges in its efforts to build a just and prosperous nation in the face of far reaching political, social and technological developments affecting the global economy.

In international trade, we face challenges from globalisation and emerging dominant regional markets and economic groupings which impose formidable demands and strictures on our goods and services. In meeting these unprecedented challenges, it is crucial that all efforts at national level be focused on continually improving the quality of our products and services to be on a par with the world's best.

The quality of life of the people will also rise as a result of improvement of quality of products and services.

Nationally, a commitment to excellence in manufacturing, services and all other activities is essential for healthy economic growth and long-term prosperity.

Towards this end excellence and a suitable infrastructure has been evolved as a national imperative. The government recognises the need for a single policy framework embracing clear national guidelines and priorities to co-ordinate the activities of all organisations, in the public and private sectors, to maximise the use of available resources in the achievement of long-term objectives.

All sectors of the economy and all segments of the population will be drawn in, to play an active role in this massive national effort.

Main pillars

National Quality Policy, Preparation, Adoption and application of national standards, Preparation, adoption and application of technical regulations, Certification (products and systems), inspection, testing, metrology and other methods of enforcement.

The major principles that should be kept in mind when the organisation of the national quality infrastructure is discussed are:

National Quality Policy: The national quality policy envisages an integrated approach to quality management involving all sectors of the economy and all segments of society.

The principles: Quality will be a national preoccupation reflected in all national development plans and strategies, Adequate provision will be made for human resources development in the field of quality, Entrepreneurial efforts at quality achievement and improvement will be promoted, fostered and fully supported, Quality of the environment will receive due importance at all times and every effort will be made to promote quality awareness in all sectors of the economy.

However, with new developments taking place in the country, the Sri Lanka Standards Institution, the national standards body of Sri Lanka, will review and revise the National Quality Policy with the assistance of GIZ, by having a wider stakeholder consultation approach.

Preparation, adoption and application of technical regulation WTO-TBT agreement indicates that standardisation should be applied in ways that do not create unnecessary barriers.

For instance, the OECD code for Good Regulatory Practices is a guideline that can be used by the standards bodies to meet TBT needs.

Preparation, adoption and application of national standards: The code of good practices for the preparation, adoption and application of standards are given in Annex 3 to the WTO-TBT agreement. Ideally, it is necessary that all WTO member countries participate in the International standardisation development process from the beginning to air their concerns.

But the fact remains that there are restrictions due to insufficient resources.

Accreditation: Needs in international standards and guidelines regarding the independence, impartiality, competence and organisation of accreditation bodies, are given in the international standard ISO-IEC 17011:2004.

Certification: Needs of ISO-IEC 17065:2012 bodies operating assessment and certification or registration of environmental management systems (EMS) and IAF Guidance on the application of ISO-IEC17065:2012, general needs for bodies operating product certification systems.

Inspection: The needs for Inspection Bodies are covered in ISO-IEC 17020:2012

Testing: The needs for Testing Bodies set up under ISO-IEC 17025:2005 Metrology OIML recommendations and guidelines and internationally established operations for the setting up of traceability of measurements.

Countries have recognised the urgency to adapt to the new principles as soon as possible, considering the fact that the principles within the framework of WTO form the plying rules of international trade and therefore, the possibilities for the national producers to continue their participation in international trade.

At the same time authorities need to realise the importance of protecting the health and safety of consumers and in giving them the advantages of a well-regulated market place.

Rules

For a country to be more competitive and avail of the opportunities offered by the new global trade regime, it needs to enhance its quality infrastructures and match needs set by world markets. The challenge for countries is how to build comparative advantage, at national and regional levels, in terms of quality of products.

Considering these challenges, in our country the National Quality Infrastructure has already been developed and implemented.

The new principles for conformity assessment systems require that certain rules be applied when performing testing, certification and inspection mostly related to the establishment of the competence and impartiality of the bodies performing conformity assessment procedures.

Independent and competent test laboratories should do the testing, independent and competent certification bodies should do certification (sometimes based on test report) and independent and competent inspection bodies should perform inspection activities.

Competent and recognised standards bodies should be responsible for the development of standards according to the principles of voluntary standardisation (voluntary standards) in line with the code of good conduct in annex III of the TBT-WTO agreement. This process is today, important more than ever, as we witness the growing involvement of developing countries and emerging economies in the global supply chain.

The new principles will in many cases require the setting up of new conformity assessment systems or changes in the present ones. For example, this can be related to the reorganisation of standards activities, the setting up of an accreditation body, and support to laboratories in fulfilling the needs of accreditation or the enhancement of inspection activities.

This can also help establish or enhance the national metrology systems besides the promotion of the concept of quality and environmental management systems in general (ISO 9000, ISO 14000).

The final goal of these activities is to improve the quality of products and services offered by Sri Lankan organisations while paving the way for these organisations to enter global markets and compete on an equal footing with any giant in the international scene which in turn brings in foreign exchange to develop our economy.

In other words, by developing the quality of manufactured products it is possible to increase export market share as such products can survive by satisfying the needs of consumers in those markets.

The writer is the Director General and CEO of the Sri Lanka Standards Institution