LINKING TPOs and NSBs FOR EXPORT SUCCES - COUNTRY PAPER

Transcription

1 ZAMBIA BUREAU OF STANDARDS LINKING TPOs and NSBs FOR EXPORT SUCCES - COUNTRY PAPER 1. THE ROLE STRUCTURE AND SCOPE OF ZABS ZABS is the national standards body for Zambia. It is a statutory body under the Ministry of Commerce Trade and Industry, and was established by an Act of Parliament, Cap 416 of the Laws of Zambia. 1.1 Functions of ZABS The Bureau is headed by a Director who is the chief executive officer. Under him there are four technical departments and three support departments, namely Standards Development, Metrology, Inspections and Testing Laboratories. The support departments are Finance, Human Resource and Administration and Internal Audit. 1.2 The functions of the Bureau in terms of services to enterprises are: Standards Development This is the service that facilitates the development of standards for the country. Most of the standards are developed from existing international standards, and where these do not exist, reference is made to regional and/or other national standards that are adapted for use locally. Metrology This department serves enterprises in ensuring that their in-process measurements are carried out accurately to ensure that the end product is of correct weight, length, pressure and so on. Inspections This department provides conformity assessment to enterprises by auditing manufacturing processes and management systems and taking samples of products for testing. Certification is made upon successful evaluation of audit and test findings against required relevant standards and codes of practice. The department also assists small and medium sized enterprises improve their systems in order to meet requirements of the relevant product and system standards. Page 1 of 5

2 Laboratories In this department, products are tested using standard test methods. Results are either passed on to the clients directly or through the Inspections Department for interpretation in relation to product conformity. Training The Bureau has a pool of trainers from the four technical departments who provide training to enterprises in quality management systems and also industry specific training such as food safety in the dairy sector, good manufacturing practices, etc. The services in highest demand are Standards development Quality management system training Product inspection and certification Product testing 1.3 The priority sectors include non traditional exports such as Sawn Timber Honey Fruits and vegetables Construction materials Maize Tobacco Timber Crafts Traditional Exports include: Copper cathodes and copper cables The non sector specific services include training in quality management systems. 1.4 Gaps in Service Delivery The most significant gaps can be said to be planning and resource availability such as testing capability for particular products. Service fees for enterprises also seem too high for them to meet even where the service is available. 1.5 Strategic Vision for ZABS The Government of the Republic of Zambia, through the Ministry of Commerce Trade and Industry (MCTI), has developed the micro small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) development policy for improving the performance of the sector. The Government has also developed an MSME policy implementation plan for the Page 2 of 5

3 period 2010 to While the MSME Division of the Zambia Development Agency (ZDA) has primary responsibility for implementation of this policy, other institutions such as the Zambia Bureau of Standards (ZABS) also have specific roles to play in their specialist areas. ZABS has therefore developed interventions to strengthen quality assurance among MSMEs. The MSME development policy has an objective to broaden MSME access to more lucrative local and export markets, and one of the strategies is to promote adherence to prescribed product standards as a means to ensure competitiveness of MSME products on the local and export markets The ZABS interventions or strategies are outlined below: Develop and promote use of sector specific product standards Provide training in fundamental quality control and quality assurance principles and systems Undertake certification of products Develop and implement phased Quality Management systems Certification Undertake quality assurance testing of products to ensure conformance to standards Calibrate measuring instruments to ensure accuracy and traceability 2. EXISTING RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ZABS AND ZAMBIA DEVELOPMENT AGENCY (ZDA) The ZDA understands the role of ZABS to a very large extent. This has been demonstrated by the training for exporters where ZDA requests the expertise of ZABS to facilitate part of the training. The exporters, on the other hand do not fully understand the role of ZABS. The most common misconception for them is that ZABS is a regulatory body interested only in checking for right or wrong practices and punishing non compliant enterprises. Through trainings such as export promotion and quality management systems, information is then disseminated to them (exporters). ZABS has signed a memorandum of understanding with ZDA and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) with regard to training of SMEs under a World Bank funded project. On a less formal level, ZABS has been called upon to facilitate at export promotion training workshops for projects funded by the German government. The principal constraints arise particularly in the planning of activities that are meant to assist the SMEs. ZDA and ZABS are both aware of the needs, but determination of these needs is not always done jointly. However, at implementation, there is usually cooperation between the two institutions, thereby reducing any negative impact Page 3 of 5

4 this gap would have in the implementation stages. Other constraints include the absence of standards and testing capabilities for some specific products. Putting in place a memorandum of understanding between ZABS and ZDA would help overcome shortfalls in the planning stages. ZABS and the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) are in the process of formalising a memorandum of understanding to strengthen the working relation between the two institutions. ZABS also works with the Zambia Association of Manufacturers, the Food Reserve Agency, the Timber Association of Zambia, the Dairy Processors and the Honey Council of Zambia. With the latter two, there are formal arrangements in place whereas the former three bodies are dealt with on an informal basis. 3. THE POTENTIAL FUTURE Zambia has now put in place a national quality policy and has also developed an implementation plan for the same policy. Once the institutions identified in the policy are established, the roles will then be known and it will be easier to establish well defined areas of collaboration. The areas with the most potential for strengthening cooperation are: Development of sector specific standards and Training and establishment of quality management systems Preparation and dissemination of information - The possible areas of collaboration related are in the planning stages where the needs of enterprises are identified and prioritised. At this stage, an all inclusive information package can be designed and prepared for dissemination in various ways, such as print (brochures and media) and electronic (radio and TV). Capacity building and Advisory Services here collaboration can be made by holding joint training workshops, industrial visits for staff of both ZABS and ZDA. Resulting from such workshops, training manuals can be jointly developed thereby maximising benefits to enterprises. Joint visits have been made in the past before but these were few and irregular. Obtaining and Demonstrating Compliance here ZABS and ZDA could work together by publishing names of enterprises that obtain compliance for their goods and/or services and systems and possibly rewarding them as a means of encouraging other enterprises that lag behind. Page 4 of 5

5 A memorandum of understanding should be put in place to overcome planning and implementation gaps and to make the working relationship more focused and defined. ZABS has a good number of industry experts and trained auditors who will certainly add value to the any relationship with the ZDA. With an MoU in place, the relationship would be formal and this will guide the two institutions on how best to work with each other. It will enhance the understanding of each other s roles and ensure the availability of personnel and service whenever the need arises. The benefits to ZABS would be a defined pool of staff working in trade promotion with regard to ZABS services. ZDA would also benefit in a similar manner. The exporter and the potential buyer would have known contacts for dealing with export and quality matters, thereby reducing the time it would take to get the necessary services. Endorsement by the ministry is already in place. However, getting resources would require the ministry s intervention. The plan that has been submitted for the enterprises is awaiting funding from Government under the 6 th National Development Plan. Other ways of collaboration are through projects funded by donors and government collaborating partners. 4. CONCLUSION ZABS and ZDA have so far worked well together. However, a lot of sectors can be assisted more if the two institutions collaborate more. The Ministry of Commerce Trade and Industry under which the two institutions fall has also made great steps in addressing the challenges faced by enterprises in as far as market access with regard to meeting export market requirements are concerned. More remains to be done in dissemination of information and capacity building. Funding and implementation of the enterprise improvement strategy will certainly impact positively on our local industry. Submitted by: Peggy K Chituta Zambia Bureau of Standards Page 5 of 5