Accredited Certification Important in International Trade

Accredited inspection, testing or certification is not only important for promoting confidence in them but has become a vital tool in international trade by facilitating acceptance of certifications and test reports across borders. This was stated by Lt. Gen. Sanjay Chauhan, DG, DGQA while speaking in the celebration of the World Accreditation Day as the chief guest today.

The Quality is paramount and it needs to be inculcated within the individuals and should be voluntary and self-certified. He also shared the attitudinal change happening within the defence procurement system, moving away from the Inspector Raj to self-driven quality conscious providers.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr R. P. Singh, Secretary General, Quality Council of India, said that accreditation can support in improving quality of goods and services in all sectors where QCI has a vital role in supporting the implementation of international standards and global best practices in industries. He also emphasized that there is a requirement for govt. to bring in legislation to stop unauthentic certificates in the market which seriously puts people at risk.

On the occasion, the Aware Consumer magazine was released by Chief Guest which was dedicated to the World Accreditation Day celebration. Mr. Bejon Misra, Publisher of "The Aware Consumer" and Board Member of QCI mentioned that accreditation should link to academics also where students can get a chance to understand the value of accreditation and conformity assessment which will be helpful for them to implement. He also mentioned that QCI shall be the hub to propagate the awareness of quality in all sector of industries.

The World Accreditation Day, is a global initiative, jointly established by the international bodies, International Accreditation Forum (IAF) and the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC), to raise awareness of the importance of accreditation among stakeholders. Each year a theme is finalized and the theme this year focusses on an important part of commerce which is supply chain and how accreditation adds value to supply chains.

The three accreditation boards under the Quality Council of India: National Accreditation Board for Certification Bodies (NABCB), National Accreditation Board for Education and Training (NABET), National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) organised the celebrations simultaneously at four locations in Delhi, Mumbai, Guwahati, Chennai.

The technical programme featured speakers from government, industry, consultant organisations and conformity assessment bodies to deliberate on managing quality in supply chain and how conformity assessment supports the same. The speakers were experts in different sectors ranging from food, petroleum, aerospace, and defence. The programme was attended by about. 300 delegates representing government officials, industry, quality professionals, conformity assessment bodies and consultants.