LINKING TPOs AND NSBs FOR EXPORT SUCCESS WORKSHOP JUNE 2011, DAR-ES SALAAM, TANZANIA

Transcription

1 LINKING TPOs AND NSBs FOR EXPORT SUCCESS WORKSHOP JUNE 2011, DAR-ES SALAAM, TANZANIA Prepared By Aggrey Gama, Quality monitoring Services Officer Malawi Bureau of Standards 1.0 ESTABLISHMENT AND MANDATE The Malawi Bureau of Standards (MBS) is a statutory organization established by an Act of Parliament Chapter 51:02 in 1972.The MBS was established with a mandate to promote standardization of commodities and of their manufacture, production, processing or treatment; and further to provide for matters incidental to, or connected with standardization. The mandate was given as a means of advancing the national economy; assisting and protecting consumers from all safety and health risks associated with substandard products; facilitating domestic and international trade; and furthering international cooperation in the field of standardization OBJECTIVES OF THE MBS The MBS Act outlines 11 objectives which have to be executed by the organization in order to fulfill its mandate and among them are the following: a) To promote standardization in industry and commerce; b) To prepare, frame, modify or amend specifications and codes of practice; c) To encourage or undertake educational work in connection with standardization; d) To provide for co-operation with the representatives of any branch of industry, ministry, government department, local authority or any statutory corporation or with any person with a view to bringing about standardization in connection with commodities; e) To provide for the testing of locally manufactured or imported commodities with a view to determining whether such commodities comply with the provisions of the Standardization Act or any other law relating to standards of quality. 1.2 PROGRAMMES, ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE MBS In order to fulfill its mandate and objectives, the MBS carries out various activities through its departmental functions as per its organizational structure. The following are the key activities that are implemented by the MBS: Standards development The MBS formulates National Standards (Malawi Standards) in all fields upon demand from interested parties such as the industry or the general public. The standards act as a base or guideline for measuring the quality, performance or fitness for intended use of products and services. The formulation of standards is done through Technical Committees (TCs) that are made up of representatives from industries, government ministries and departments, professional organizations and bodies, among others. ~ 1 ~

2 1.2.2 Standards promotion and information services The Documentation and Information Services Division (MBS-DIS) provides information on standards and standards related matters to the industry, government, the general public and other interested parties. It is also the custodian of standards from all over the world (including Malawi) through its affiliation with other national standards bodies. A library subscription scheme is available where industries, the general public and other interested parties can subscribe to in order to have access to the various standards and standards related information at both the local and international level. The Division is also responsible for the dissemination of information in order to publicize the activities of the MBS Standards implementation Two departments, namely the Quality Assurance Services Department and the Technical Services Department are responsible for the direct implementation of Malawi Standards. a) Quality assurance services The Quality Assurance Services Department (QASD) operates product /service and quality management systems certification schemes to ensure that both local and imported goods and or services comply with quality requirements. The overall objective of the department is to protect consumers from unfair trade practices and from safety hazards arising from consumption of substandard products. The QASD offers its services through certification schemes as follows: i. Permit scheme for locally manufactured products ii. Designation scheme for catering services iii. Imports quality monitoring scheme for imported products iv. Export quality certification scheme(eqcs) for exports (Voluntary) v. Consumer complaints handling vi. Quality management systems scheme Through the EQCS, products meant for export are inspected and tested for compliance with the buyers specifications and an export certificate is issued for a complying batch. Most of the products that are handled under the EQSC are agricultural finished and semi-finished products that include tea, cowpeas, chillies, and macadamia nuts among others. b) Testing services department The Technical Services Department (TSD) operates several laboratories of the MBS. The laboratories provide testing services to most organisations that do not have their own test facilities, to clients looking for an independent analysis or opinion, and to internal programmes for verification of compliance to standards. The laboratory facilities are in the following areas: General chemistry, Pharmaceuticals, Petrochemicals, Pesticides residues and formulation, Microbiology, Radiochemistry, Engineering and materials. ~ 2 ~

3 1.2.4 Metrology services The MBS is mandated by the Weights and Measures Act to provide industrial metrology and legal metrology services. The MBS took over the responsibilities of the Assize Unit of the Trade Department of the then Ministry of Commerce and Industry and created the Trade Metrology Division (TMD) on 1 April, 1996 where the main metrology services being offered are verification and inspection services, and calibration services of weighing and measuring instruments in use for trade and other commercial transactions to ensure fair trade Industrial research and consultancy The MBS offers client-based industrial research and consultancies in areas such as product development, safety and hygiene among others Training As part of its promotional activities the MBS offers training in standardization, quality, and food safety and environment management systems. The training is based on the international standards such as ISO 9000, ISO 19011, ISO 17025, ISO and HACCP; and principles in these respective standards. Beneficiaries of such training programmes are drawn from both the public and private sector. Increasingly, participants from the government institutions and departments have been enrolling on the training programmes Liaison Another objective under the MBS Act requires the MBS to cooperate with any organisation, public or private, local or international, in matters similar to the ones pursued by the MBS. In this respect the MBS is the contact point for a number of regional and international organisations dealing with standards, quality assurance or metrology within the trade, industrial and various other sectors. In particular the MBS is a member, or is affiliated to the following regional and international bodies involved in standardization: International Organization for Standardization (ISO), International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), Codex Alimentarius Commission and SADC programme on standardization, quality assurance, accreditation and metrology (SADC SQAM) among others. The MBS is also a government appointed Enquiry Point for the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreements on Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) measures and Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT). It is also a Government designated National Codex Contact Point. As a WTO Enquiry Point, the MBS has the responsibility of providing information on standards, food safety measures and conformance assessment procedures applicable to products in target markets. ~ 3 ~

4 1.3 OVERVIEW OF MBS SERVICES FOR EXPORTERS From the highlighted services that the MBS offers, the highest in demand by exporters are the testing, certification, and metrology services. However, exporters are faced with the following challenges: a) Export certification is based on buyer s specification and in view of the fact that there are a lot of private standards, the exporter is sometimes faced with a challenge to provide the specifications. b) In instances where the specifications required are beyond MBS testing capacity due to infrastructure limitations, the exporter is faced with a challenge to get the service elsewhere and this is sometimes inconvenient and costly. c) Where the trade agreement specifies the need for certificate of analysis by an accredited certification body, the exporter has to outsource the service from elsewhere because the testing laboratories of the MBS are not accredited at present. However, MBS is involved in proficiency testing activities with other testing laboratories in the region to validate its test methods Most of the services being offered by MBS cut across the needs of a wide range of sectors. However, Malawi s priority areas, according to Malawi Growth and Development Strategy, are agriculture and food security; irrigation and water development; transport infrastructure development; energy generation and supply; integrated rural development; and prevention and management of nutrition disorders, HIV and AIDS. MBS services target all of these areas in pursuant of its mission of contributing, by promoting quality and standardization towards the strengthening of the economy of Malawi and towards enhancing the quality of life of its entire people. It is within these priority areas that Malawi has embarked on agro-processing, to eradicate post harvest losses, moving up the value chain in key crops, and increase exportation of the agro- processed products to achieve food security and economic development and therefore MBS is targeting, specifically, the manufacturing sector and exporters to assist in the realization of these goals In three years time, according to the MBS strategic plan, it is geared towards strengthening its capacity for effective and efficient service delivery. The areas of focus include investing in infrastructure development to improve testing capacity, Becoming accredited against ISO 17025, ISO 1720 and ISO 1721 to gain international credibility and to invest in human capacity development and improve in information dissemination methods. 2.0 EXISTING RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MBS AND TRADE PROMOTING ORGANISATIONS (TPOs) 2.1 There are a number of trade promoting organizations in Malawi such as Malawi Export Promotion Council (MEPC) and MBS has no formal agreements with any of them basically because there have been no commitment from both parties to establish formal relationships. ~ 4 ~

5 2.2 Currently, MBS deals directly with exporters and respond to their respective inquiries. From the inquiries the MBS receives and the level of patronage in the Export Quality Certification scheme, it is apparent that the roles of the MBS are not well understood. 2.3 As already mentioned, another objective under the MBS Act requires the MBS to cooperate with any organisation, public or private, local or international, in matters similar to the ones pursued by the MBS and therefore there is no restraint for MBS to establish relationships with TPOs. 2.4 MBS works with a number of organizations at an informal level but also under formal agreements with some association which are not necessarily TPOs. As of now, MBS signed a memorandum of understanding with Malawi Organic Growers Association (MOGA) which has resulted in development of a national organic products standard. Currently joint efforts are underway to establish an organic products certification unit within MBS and be accredited against IFOAM standards so as to attain international recognition in certification of organic products. 3.0 POTENTIAL FUTURE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MBS AND TPOs 3.1 There are a number of service areas that MBS can cooperate with TPOs and these include: a) Preparation and dissemination of information: MBS has a library where TPOs could have access and information can be shared with TPOs and passed to exporters on issues of services being offered by MBS and vice versa. MBS and TPOs have websites which could be hyperlinked to serve the needs of the public and exporters in particular. b) Capacity building and advisory services: MBS conducts trainings covering a wide range of areas of which joint trainings could be organized with TPOs to cover specific information gaps and representatives of TPOs could be always included in various technical committees for standards development. 4.0 CONCLUSION For the benefit of all parties and stake holders, a formal agreement is a requirement as this allows for the terms, conditions and limitations to be clearly highlighted and gives responsibilities to respective parties for achieving the set goals. Above all this allows for the initiative to be given priority as there is always management commitment under such formal agreements. Under this arrangement the TPOs could become a one stop shop for all requirements on exports and the MBS could provide the support services ensuring that quality is promoted consequently exports markets will open up and consumers shall be assured of safe and high quality Malawi products. In everything, taking the first step is what matters most. Cooperation with TPOs is necessary and therefore in line with MBS mandate and objective of facilitating both domestic and international trade such cooperation is indisputably vital. ~ 5 ~