Yonas Abiye
14 October 2009
Addis Ababa — Quality and Standard Authority of Ethiopia (QSAE) on Monday announced that it has been waiting for the approval of the Council of Ministers on the new draft bill it had proposed for "National Quality Infrastructure".
"Despite our efforts to ensure quality and standards for goods and services as part of the undertaking to enhance the country's development and economic growth, we were not able to go as we much as we would have liked. We need, therefore, a new law that is more appropriate. And we are waiting for the approval from council's of Ministers," Director General of QSAE, Messay Girma told press conference at the side line of national workshop on Monday in connection with World Standards Day is marked today.
Messay expressed his hope that the new draft proposal will get approved in a few months time. Despite the presence of the Authority there has been a wide spread illegal practice and cheating adversely affecting quality of goods and services across the country, he confessed.
"In our country cheating and illegal practices are the biggest challenge", he said and went on to add, "cheating cannot be avoided entirely, unless manufacturers, importers and exporters become determined to pursue economic development based on quality and standard." "We carryout market surveillance and follow up. At the moment trading involves illegal practices. We are also attempting to decentralize the national infrastructure. We have seen that controlling people's action was unsuccessful. Therefore we should decentralize our all actions" he added.
The proposed bill incorporates various new amendments that enable to control and inspect business organizations and to take legal action including denying licenses to those who do not comply with the law, according to the director.
As part of quality and standard assurance mechanism, Messay indicated that the Authority has signed mutual agreements with various governments including China, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Sudan.
"Based on our new bill, no one can secure working license without certification issued from our Authority.
Every year on World Standards Day, Quality and Standard Authority of Ethiopia (QSAE) joins the international community in celebrating the importance of standards-related activities and hosted a one day workshop on Monday at Ghion Hotel.
Since the marking of the Day began, it has had a spirit of collaboration embodied in World Standards Day and with the goal to raise awareness about the importance of international standardization to the world economy. To promote its role in helping meet the needs of all business sectors, the celebration of the Day has included members of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), the International Electro-technical Commission (IEC) and the International Telecommunications Union (ITU).
It was the prompting by the President of the International Organization for Standardization that the first World Standards Day was celebrated on October 14th, 1970.
A specific theme for World Standards Day is selected annually by ISO, IEC and ITU. In 2009, "Tackling climate change through standards" has been chosen for the 40th World Standards Day.
The three organizations are working together with other international organizations to ensure participants at the upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference on 7-18 December 2009 in Copenhagen, Denmark, become fully aware of the solutions offered by existing and future International Standards."
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