BQSP Newsletter No. 2

January 2007

---

Article submitted by Mr. K M Mostafa Anwar, National Project Coordinator, QMS Component of BQSP.

“If you cannot measure, you cannot improve” is a well-known adage in engineering. Measurements are done in laboratories. Laboratories provide test and measurement results for many purposes - calibration, determining product quality, quality control of manufacturing, compliance with, laws and regulations etc. The reliability, validity and acceptance of those tests and measurements are essential if decisions are to be made on their applications. Accreditation provides a mechanism to provide confidence in the technical competence of the laboratories. Similarly, accreditation can be applied to the other activities broadly referred to as, “conformity assessment” such as certification and inspection to give increased confidence in those activities.

In Bangladesh there are a significant number of existing institutions and organizations engaged in conformity assessment, mainly laboratories owned by government bodies and universities, and in the private sector.  Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution (BSTI) is into a government product certification body responsible for the mandatory certification mark for a range of products for compliance with national standards (BDS).  Calibration services and traceability in measurements through, a national metrology institute is not yet developed to meet the country as well as international technical requirements. There is a small amount of activity in system certification (ISO 9001, EMS14000, HACCP and the like) provided by foreign certification bodies based mainly in India and other Asian countries.  Inspection is at the official level only (largely for import/export inspection) and should ultimately be operable to meet international standards. These are the bodies which would be under a national accreditation programme to facilitate domestic as well as international trade.

Although there are a number of bodies involved in the conformity assessment business in the country, Bangladesh does not have a well-developed technical infrastructure for conformity assessment to meet the international norms and requirements. Here comes the question of selecting and developing a suitable model for national conformity assessment system. Bangladesh is now on the road to develop its system and the creation of the Bangladesh Accreditation Board (BAB) under the Accreditation Act enacted on 16 July 2006 has opened a lot of opportunities to establish a national system in this the area having technical and trade implications. BAB will definitely play an import role in enhancing existing facilities and would ultimately be a catalyst for a much broader development of national technical capacity in the area of metrology, measurement, and quality and conformity assessment. With recruitment of an acting Director -General on 3 September 2006 the Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh has officially launched the board. With technical/financial assistance from UNIDO/EU this Board started functioning in the meantime from its secretariat in the Ministry of Industries. In the last couple of decades plenty of discussions have taken place throughout the globe and a number of reliable models have been operating in many countries. A large number of international standards from ISO/IEC and others have already been developed, and accepted for conformity assessment services. To secure smooth access to the developed markets for Bangladeshi products with safety and efficacy under the WTO regime Bangladesh is now looking forward to have its national conformity assessment systems acceptable to the international communities and markets. .