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Last Updated: Feb 13, 2017 - 1:45:37 AM |
Accreditation consultant, Mr. Pat Paladino said governments and businesses
needed to support CROSQ if the work in quality was to progress.
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Georgetown, Guyana - If the CARICOM Regional Organisation
for Standards & Quality (CROSQ) is to press ahead to aid the
development of quality goods and services across the region that trade
and compete internationally, regional governments and businesses need to
play their part.
That was the view of accreditation expert, Mr.
Pat Paladino, as he addressed a symposium to mark World Accreditation
Day in Guyana this week.
Mr. Paladino, addressing an audience
that included Minister of Business, Mr. Dominic Gaskin, regional leaders
in quality infrastructure development, as well as regulators and
private sector business leaders, acknowledged the role that the two
major accreditations in Guyana; one in Jamaica and one in Grenada
utilising CROSQ’s Caribbean Cooperation for Accreditation (CCA) Scheme,
had played in pushing quality to the forefront of discussion.
He
also highlighted the Caribbean Network of Conformity Assessment Bodies
(CANCAB) another programme created by CROSQ to assist the development of
the region’s conformity assessment bodies, namely the inspection,
testing and certification entities within both the private and public
sector.
Additionally, said the international accreditation
expert, the National Standards Bodies of Belize, Suriname and Jamaica,
had all been certified to the ISO 9001 quality management system, with
the assistance of CROSQ, but all this work was only the start of what
was needed in the region.
“The CARICOM and CARIFORUM Regions have
much more to do to be able to ensure that all quality and
quality-related services are available within the regions. There are
many more standards to adopt or adapt and many more conformity
assessment bodies to accredit. There is a need for the development of
capabilities within the NABs for product, services and personnel
certification bodies and inspection bodies.
CROSQ’s Technical Officer, Accreditation, Mr. Stephen Farquharson
addressing the Guyana Accreditation Symposium.
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“It is also necessary
to obtain international recognition of the National Accreditation
Bodies for certification and inspection bodies. Each one is a formidable
task, but I have confidence that the organizations are up for the
task,” said the accreditation consultant.
“All this work and the
achievements will go to waste if there is no uptake by government or
business. That is the policies and programmes developed must be embraced
and put to use. Regional standards that are harmonized internationally
must be adopted at the national level. National regulations must start
to reference the use of these standards and address qualification of
organizations to the
international standards.
“The time is now
to show such commitments. Without your commitment it will become
extremely difficult for Caribbean organizations to be competitive in
international and regional markets,” he added, congratulating the Guyana
National Bureau of Standards (GNBS) on the tremendous work it had done
in
the country thus far.
Head of Conformity Assessment at the
Bureau, Mrs. Candelle Walcott-Bostwick noted the high demand in the
country for quality management services and accreditation services,
since the recent accreditations of the Guyana Rice Development Board’s
Central Laboratory and the Eureka Medical Laboratories Inc. in
Georgetown, with the assistance of the bureau, CROSQ and funding
partners.
Likewise, Technical Officer for Accreditation with
CROSQ, Mr. Stephen Farquharson, made a call for labs wanting to move to
accreditation status to contact the local focal point at the GNBS to
access the services CROSQ could provide to begin the process.
He
noted that CCA Scheme and the CANCAB mechanism were both created under
the European Union’s 10 th European Development Fund Technical Barriers
to Trade Programme, and additional funding partners like the Caribbean
Development Bank, the UK Department for International Development, as
well as the Centres for Disease Control under various programmes, had
enabled the assistance to be
provided to the labs and bureaux that
had received certification or accreditation. This assistance, he noted,
was available to others seeking it.
Furthermore, like Mr.
Paladino, he underscored the importance of the focus on quality to
breaking barriers and opening new markets for products and services for
the countries of CARICOM and CARIFORUM, and protecting the general
welfare, health and safety of consumers and the environment.
The
CROSQ officer noted that the organisation was in the process of
cooperating and collaborating on a common regional quality policy and
strategy of development that was needed in the region and for which
close public and private sector linkages with the bureaux of standards
would be needed.
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