National Quality Policy to be ready by 2018
The National Quality Policy (NQP), which is aimed at ensuring that goods and services traded in the country are designed, manufactured and supplied to respond to the needs, expectations, and requirements of consumers is expected to be ready by 2018, the Project facilitator, Mr Ivan Hendrikx has disclosed.
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He said the document for the policy was completed in October last year and was now awaiting comments from some government Ministries and key stakeholders.
Mr Hendrikx said this in an interview with the GRAPHIC BUSINESS at the National Quality Policy Consultative Workshop in Accra last week.
He said the workshop was to present the draft document to the various key stakeholders, take their comments, and see how it can input some of them into the final document.
He said the policy would serve as a plan that would put priority the development of quality trade infrastructure in the country.
The Director of Policy Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (PPME) at the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MoTI), Mr Ebenezer Agyirako, speaking at the workshop said the NQP, when completed and approved would develop an effective, efficient and globally recognised national quality infrastructure.
He said it would improve the international competitiveness of Ghana and lead to enhanced export performances, whilst at the same time protecting the country’s consumers from counterfeited and unsafe products.
“This will also support small and medium enterprises to conform to national standards and comply with technical regulations and thus enhance economic growth,” he said.
Mr Agyirako also mentioned that the certification procedures under the NQP would also encourage productivity improvement in SMEs.
“A well developed infrastructure is essential for economic growth and trade which facilitates economic prosperity as well as strengthens a region’s economic and political integration,” he added.
Policy formulation
The Programme Officer of the European Union, Ms Delphine Aupicon, said the formulation of the policy had to be accomplished through a comprehensive and inclusive process based on analysis and wide consultations with stakeholders.
She said this would ensure that the policy is broad based and embraced by all stakeholders.
She also pointed out that the exercise had been carried out over a period of about seven years, starting with a report on standards, quality assurance and metrology, followed by a review of the quality infrastructure of the country, leading to a comprehensive report and a draft policy in 2009.
She said the policy was however reviewed with regards to the changes in the general quality infrastructure over the period of 2009-2015.
“This review has been conducted with inputs from key stakeholders including ECOWAS Commission and the West African Quality System Programme (WAQSP) office taking cognisance of the West African Quality Policy,” she stated.
She said a quality infrastructure was a highly integrated network of people, systems, and organisations involved in the research, definition, development and promotion of quality goods services, and processes.
“It will therefore be imperative for the views and expertise of these groups of people to be incorporated in the document to ensure that consensus is built and ownership assured,” she noted.
