EXECUTIVE Director of Guyana National Bureau of Standards (GNBS), Dr. Chatterpaul Ramcharran said Friday that the agency is working towards the establishment of a conformity assessment system for the country.

GNBS Executive Director, Dr. Chatterpaul Ramcharran

He made the disclosure at a workshop hosted by Caribbean Export Development Agency (Caribbean Export), established in January 1996 by an Inter-Governmental Agreement as the regional trade and investment promoter for the 15 Member States of CARIFORUM (comprising CARICOM and the Dominican Republic).

It was conducted at Guyana International Conference Centre, Liliendaal, East Coast Demerara, in collaboration with CARICOM Regional Organisation for Standards and Quality (CROSQ), GNBS and Ministry of Tourism, Industry and Commerce.

“We need to move in this direction and we have established a National Conformity Assessment Committee which networks with some 20 agencies,” Ramcharran announced.

He said these include national authorities and regulatory bodies in the country, ranging from the Guyana Energy Agency (GEA), the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Ramcharran said GNBS is trying to provide these services to all small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) and micro enterprises.

He exhorted the SMEs to get onboard and said that the GNBS has been conducting a series of national seminars countrywide, with various sectors, towards achieving the objective.

“We are at the ground level now trying to work with them in their operations but we are not finding the enthusiasm that I would like to see at this level,” Ramcharran said.

“Approach us, don’t be afraid. We are here to help you….,” he invited.

Ramcharran said the bureau is ready to provide the technical assistance needed to set the relevant standards and enforce them to ensure conformity assessment.

The mission of Caribbean Export is to increase the competitiveness of Member States by providing quality trade and investment development and promotion services, through effective programme execution and strategic partnerships and the Friday seminar was themed ‘The Role of Standards and Caribbean Export’s Direct Assistance Scheme in Enhancing Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) Competitiveness.’

Pillars
Ramcharran said that the competitiveness of SMEs is based on three pillars, standards, conformity assessment and metrology.

He said the foundation towards competitiveness in the market place would be staying power, expansion and identifying and securing new markets.

Ramcharran said the standards deal with product benchmarks, including guidelines, specifications and information to streamline business operations and conformity assessment with assessing products to standard specifications and such, through activities used to assess the quality, like sampling, testing, inspection, certification, accreditation, calibration and verification.

“A wide spectrum of activities that the public sector bodies and the bureau of standards would use in order to assess the quality of your products,” he explained.

Ramcharran said metrology has to do with the accuracy of devices used in operations, like scales, weights and thermometers, among others.

He said accuracy is important to influencing the end product so the vision of GNBS is to establish systems which is internationally recognised.

Ramcharran said this direction is needed in light of the dynamics taking place on the trade front, globalisation and in the context of World Trade Organisation (WTO) policies.

Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce, Mr. Manniram Prashad, in the feature address, said local enterprises can realise sustainable growth, development and simultaneously, combat the many challenges that may arise through implementation of standards and conformity assessment.

The objectives of the workshop were to promote Caribbean Export Direct Assistance Scheme and how SMEs can access funding to enhance their competitiveness through increasing exports or potential to export goods and services; explain the role of standards bureaus and examine the impact that international standards may have on the ability of firms to penetrate export markets and promote the development and use of standards in CARIFORUM States, with a view to enhancing SMEs competitiveness.