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Home Page, Dhaka, Saturday October

24 2009

FIRST LAST POLITICS & VIEWS & LETTER TO LEISURE &

METRO/COUNTRY EDITORIAL
PAGE PAGE POLICIES REVIEWS EDITOR ENTERTAINMENT
For an accreditation authority in Bangladesh

M S Siddiqui

In today's global village, domestic and overseas markets are equally

important for economic development. Export is of vital importance for
an economy like Bangladesh. An exporting country needs accreditation
and compliance to remove the obstacle of technical barrier to Trade
(TBT). The certification and inspection bodies provide the accreditation.
Buyers depend on these certification bodies. The accreditation body in
Bangladesh has gained confidence of the buying countries and buyers.

A major constraint to the growth and diversification of exports is the

complexity of national and international technical, sanitary and
phytosanitary conditions developed countries apply on imports. To
address these technical, sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) barriers to
trade, Bangladesh needs to have internationally accepted standards,
testing, and certification. Technical barrier to Trade (TBT) is a major
concern for Bangladesh to achieve sustained export growth. TBT means
acceptability of test certificate from Bangladesh after re-tests by the
importing country. Delays, extra costs and higher lead time can lead to
rejection and depreciation of goods exported. Bangladeshi manufacturers
and exporters must be internationally competitive in price and quality.

Some organisations based in other regional countries have certified some

Bangladeshi companies through ISO 9000, ISO 14000, HACCP and a
few other international standards. Compliance with the international
standards by accreditation organisations in Bangladesh requires them to
take technical assistance to strengthen their capacity.

Many Bangladeshi organisations have begun to implement the

provisions of the WTO Technical Barriers to Trade Agreement (TBT).
But a lack of valid accreditation system in Bangladesh poses a problem.
There are no internationally acceptable local testing, measurement and
calibration laboratories, accredited by a competent authority.

BSTI, the national standardisation body, functions without credible

international recognition. It certifies the quality of commodities,
materials and products. BSTI has, so far, issued over 5000 licenses on
compulsory certification. Though legally acceptable, the consumes in
Bangladesh still question their quality. BSTI is going to establish ISO
9001 series and IS 14000 Certification in cooperation with UNIDO. The
Directorate of Fisheries and the Institute of Leather Technology are
availing technical cooperation from Italy to be accredited as certification
authority for the relevant products.
Bangladesh has to improve its test methods and facilities for the
standards to be acceptable to others.

There are over 100,000 international standards. Over 1000 new

standards are introduced every year. It is a major challenge for
developing countries like Bangladesh to keep pace with the ever-
improving market-generated product standards. Bangladesh's national
metrology laboratory guarantees that all the measurements used by
physical, chemical and microbiology testing laboratories are accurate
and comply with standards acceptable to the buyers. It needs to be
recognised internationally as an autonomous accreditation authority. By
setting the standards and ensuring compliance, consumers' organisations
can help the growth of export and development of the economy.

The confirmation of standard is done through standards of Metrology,

Accreditation, Testing, Certification and Standardisation. To improve
standard setting, certification, accreditation and metrology to an
internationally acceptable standard, it must ensure that the System of
Quality Management, Standards and Conformity Assessment are brought
to internationally accepted standards. It needs establishment of an
effective accreditation authority by strengthening of the BSTI in
standards setting and metrology.

A legal framework must be established for standards, metrology, and

testing and conformity assessment. The accreditation authority should
enjoy autonomy in its operatation.

Bangladesh enacted the Bangladesh Accreditation Act in 2006 and has

also established Accreditation Board. Bangladesh now needs to establish
a number of standardising bodies both at local government and non-
government levels with respective jurisdictions. Bangladesh is an
affiliated member of the International Organisation for Standardisation
(ISO), International Electro-technical Commission (IEC), International
Telecommunication Union (ITU) and Codex Alimentarius Commission
(CAC).

Bangladesh is not, however, ready to participate in the international

standardisation process on the basis of its national standard. It requires
technical assistance for capacity building to be able to do that.
Bangladesh needs to change its legal framework and make the local
certification authorities acceptable to the foreign buyers and the buying
countries.

With time moving fast, the competitors are fast developing their capacity
but Bangladesh continues to lag behind. The standards acceptable today
are not acceptable tomorrow.

The writer, a part-time faculty at Leading University, can be contacted at

shah@banglachemical.com