Don’t abandon establishment of National Accreditation Body - Govt advised
The Programmes Director of the Trade Related Assistance and Quality Enabling Programme (TRAQUE), Mr Michael Senayah, has urged the government to continue with the establishment of the National Accreditation Body for standards, which was commenced by the European Union under the TRAQUE programme.
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He said that would help provide standards to local laboratories and ensure that they got the recognition to provide local and affordable alternatives to obtain accreditation of the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) conformity assessment standards.
“This will also mitigate the costs businesses incur by using foreign accreditation bodies for this exercise,” he stated.
Currently, Ghana does not have a national accreditation body and, therefore, local conformity assessment bodies have to use the often expensive services of foreign accreditation bodies.
It is against this background that the TRAQUE Programme, which came to an end this year, commenced the establishment of a national accreditation body which would provide standards for laboratories.
National quality policy
Mr Senayah also advised the government to, as a matter of urgency, process the draft National Quality Policy (NQP) as quickly as possible and present to Cabinet for consideration and approval.
He said the NQP would ensure that goods and services traded in the country were designed, manufactured and supplied to respond to the needs, expectations and requirements of consumers.
“The policy regime will ensure that goods and services do not only meet the expectations of local regulatory authorities but overseas export markets as well,” he pointed out.
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For the country to be competitive in both the domestic and international markets, Mr Senayah also recommended that the government should start streamlining the country’s technical regulatory framework and also set up national committees which would ensure issues of Technical barriers to trade (TBT) do not constrain exporters and importers, “In other words, assist the country to effectively implement its commitments under the World Trade Organisation’s TBT & SPS Agreement,” he noted.
TRAQUE programme
The TRAQUE Programme came into being as a result of the decision of the Government of Ghana and the European Commission to implement a “Trade Related Assistance and Quality Enabling Programme.”
The programme was under the contracting authority of the National Authorising Officer at the Ministry of Finance and was being implemented by the Ministry of Trade and Industry, with technical support provided by Agriconsulting Europe S.A (AESA).
Under the TRAQUE Programme, 28 laboratories of six quality institutions were supplied with state-of-the-art equipment worth over six million euros.
The institutions were Ghana Standards Authority, Physico-chemical laboratory of Food and Drugs Authority, Veterinary Services Directorate, Food Research Institute, Institute of Industrial Research (CSIR), Plant Protection, Regulatory and Services Directorate of MOFA and the Customs laboratory of Ghana Revenue Service.
In addition, three laboratories were renovated: that of the Food and Drugs Authority, Veterinary Services Directorate and Food Research Institute.
The programme also provided grants to the tune of €700,000 to four institutions to undertake their own projects with regard to their mandate: the Ghana Standards Authority, Food and Drugs Authority, Ghana Export Promotion Authority and National Board for Small-Scale Industries.