REVIEW OF SOUTH AFRICAN
STANDARDS INFRASTRUCTURE
Nedlac has commissioned a review of the South African Standards,
Quality Assurance, Accreditation and Metrology (SQAM)
Infrastructure. The main objective of the review is to improve and
enhance the competitiveness of South Africa's suppliers of products
and services by ensuring that the technical SQAM infrastructure
operates at optimum efficiency.
Organisations such as the South African Bureau of Standards
(SABS), the National Measurement Laboratory (NML), which is part of
the CSIR, the South African Accreditation System (SANAS) and the
various quality bodies, will come under scrutiny.
Two South African companies, Bentley West Management Consultants
and New Africa Technology Holdings, in conjunction with an
Australian Consortium consisting of the National Association of
Testing Authorities (NATA), the National Metrology Laboratory (NML)
and Standards Australia, have been appointed to conduct the review.
In line with all of Nedlac's research initiatives, the consultants
will be guided by a counterpart group consisting of Nedlac
constituencies.
The review commenced in January 2000 with a call for public
comment on the needs of an efficient SQAM infrastructure.
Submissions were received from a large number of organisations
(either written or verbal) and these have been compiled into a
needs assessment.
The next stage of the project will be to design the ideal
infrastructure for South Africa's specific needs based on an
international review of systems in the United Kingdom, Malaysia,
Australia and Brazil. A number of other countries will be used to
provide supplementary information for the model.
Background information on SQAM infrastructure
SQAM infrastructure provides the technical basis for orderly
commerce, the facilitation of both international and domestic
trade, the creation of harmony between manufacturers and the need
for government to regulate activities. The main purpose of this
infrastructure is to support the efficiency and competitiveness of
South African industry.
A highly credible and internationally recognised SQAM
infrastructure is key to achieving international credibility as a
trading nation as well as the ability to compete on equal terms
with the world leading organisations. This manifests itself through
South African organisations producing their products and services
to recognised international standards and having South African
issued test reports and certification accepted internationally
especially in our main trading partners. The other potential
benefits of SQAM are wide and varied and include the creation of
effective and efficient management, quantification and valuation
for trade and regulation, technology transfer, interoperability of
systems and products, testing of technical information about
products and the protection of consumers and communities.
More information regarding this project can be obtained from the
SQAM web site - www.sa-sqam.co.za