By Nse Anthony-Uko
(Sundiata Post) – The federal government has tasked Candidate Assessors of the ECOWAS Accreditation Bodies on the need to be well versed in the requirements of the ISO/IEC 17020 to enable improve the quality infrastructure within the region.
Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment Mr Okechukwu Enelamah, also called on the ECOWAS Commission, member states of the region and all their technical and financial partners to continue to participate fully in the development of the accreditation process, which he described as the only guarantee of an efficient sustainable and wealth creating conformity assessment system in the region.
Speaking during the Regional Capacity Building Workshop for Candidates Assessors of the Accreditation Bodies of the ECOWAS Regional Accreditation System (ECORAS) on the requirements of ISO/IEC 17020, the Minister, who was represented by Dr Francis Alaneme, an official of the Ministry, urged Candidate Assessors to take ownership of the requirements of the ISO IEC 17020 standard by taking advantage of the workshop to be well informed so that they can replicate the training at national levels.
The Minister also thanked the European Union for the €12 million funding, and UNIDO for providing the technical support necessary the execution of the WASQP and facilitating its implementation.
Also speaking, the UNIDO Chief Technical Adviser on WAQSP, Aka Jean Joseph Kouassi, said that by organising this workshop the region has demonstrated that is has resolutely taken in hand the question of market surveillance and consumer protection.
He noted that prior to the workshop, in April 2018, consumer associations and state structures in charge consumers benefited from capacity building on their duties and rights in the context of meeting the UN guide for consumer protection. In June 2018, a regional workshop on the technical validation of documents related to the launch of the ECOWAS Compliance Standards Mark of ECOWAS was followed.
These various activities, Kouassi said involved several categories of key players who must work together to achieve effective market surveillance and consumer protection mechanism.
The Regional Capacity Building Workshop for Candidates Assessors of the Accreditation Bodies of the ECOWAS Regional Accreditation System (ECORAS) on the requirements of ISO/IEC 17020 is organised in collaboration with the European Union (EU), ECOWAS, United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) and the West Africa Quality System Programme (WAQSP).
The workshop is part of the implementation of the WAQSP in application of the ECOWAS Quality Policy meant to establish a framework for the development and operation of appropriate, relevant, efficient and effective quality infrastructure to facilitate trade at intra-regional and international levels to protect the consumer and the environment and promote sustainable economic development.
The ISO/IEC 17020 specifies requirements for the competence of bodies performing inspection and the impartiality and consistency of their inspection activities.