Press release from Business Wire India
Source: National Accreditation Board for Certification Bodies (NABCB)
Friday, June 10, 2011 01:00 PM IST (07:30 AM GMT)
Editors: General: Food & drink, People, Social issues; Business: Media & entertainment; Technology
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Quality Council of India Observes Worlds Accreditation Day 2011- Supporting The Work of Regulators
Secretary, Department of Science and Technology, Government of India launched new program, "Accreditation of Proficiency Testing Providers" on the occasion of World Accreditation Day 9th June 2011.
New Delhi, Delhi, India, Friday, June 10, 2011 -- (Business Wire India) -- The National Accreditation Board for Certification Bodies (NABCB), a constituent board of Quality Council of India, and the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL), under the Department of Science and Technology, organized a function to observe the World Accreditation Day, at the India Habitat Centre. The function was inaugurated by Shri T. Ramasami, Secretary, Department of Science and Technology with Shri V.N. Gaur, Chief Executive Officer, FSSAI being the Guest of Honor and Keynote Speaker. The National Accreditation Board for Certification Bodies (NABCB), and the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) are the national accreditation bodies, members of IAF and ILAC.
The theme for the World Accreditation Day 2011 is "How accreditation supports the work of regulators".
Inaugurating the programme Dr. T. Ramasami Secretary, Department of Science & Technology, Government of India, said that accreditation bodies add value for obtaining greater recognition among regulators. In his keynote address Mr. V.N. Gaur, Chief Executive Officer, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) outlined the huge task in front of FSSAI in regulating the food business operators and expressed a need for including resources from outside FSSAI in the system to fulfill its objectives. He emphasized that independent third party bodies would need to consider issues like cost, reach into remote areas and reliability of their operations to support FSSAI in its regulations. Earlier Mr. Anil Relia, Director National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL), welcomed the gathering and requested the Secretary, Department of Science and Technology Dr. T. Ramasami to announce the launch of the new program "Accreditation of Proficiency Testing Providers" on the occasion of World Accreditation Day 2011.
World Accreditation Day is a unique opportunity for the accreditation community to extend its influence and demonstrate how accreditation can be applied to a wide variety of assessment, approval or evaluation tasks that can be used to address a wide range of Regulatory requirements.
The regulators worldwide are increasingly relying on accreditation to utilize independent, third party certification/inspection bodies and laboratories in their regulatory framework. Accreditation has received a further boost with the European Commission bringing out a regulation EC 765/2008 on accreditation and Decision no 768/2008 which encourages use of accreditation by member countries in notifying third party agencies for checking compliance to the regulations.
The influence and use of accreditation continues to grow across a wide range of economies and domestic policy areas. This was highlighted in a survey of the ILAC membership in 2010, which confirmed the growing use of accreditation by Regulators in all the 55 economies that responded.
In India also, the new regulators like the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB), the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) and the Warehousing Development and Regulatory Authority (WDRA) have recognized the growing worldwide trend and decided to rely on accreditation and third party assessment.
On this occasion of the World Accreditation Day Dr Giridhar J Gyani, Secretary General, Quality Council of India observed "Accreditation basically means establishing competency for conformity assessment bodies (CABs). The accreditation facilitates international trade by way of establishing equivalence of CABs in the field of testing, inspection and certification at global level so that product tested once gets accepted world over. Quality Council of India has established world class accreditation system for CABs and which greatly helps in bi-lateral and multi national trade agreements."
He further added" On the World Accreditation Day, QCI resolves to take this model across and help in bringing transparency and objectivity in compliance of government and regulatory processes. "
India is negotiating free trade agreements with many countries and blocks like Malaysia, New Zealand, European Commission, European Free Trade Association etc and accreditation is one of the elements of the agreements on minimizing technical barriers to trade. The India-Singapore FTA already stipulates that conformity assessment by accredited bodies would be acceptable in telecom and electrical and electronics goods sector.
Anil Jauhri, Director, National Accreditation Board for Ccertification Bodies observed " The Indian regulators, constrained as they are with acute manpower crunch, and at times difficulty in assimilating latest developments into their own inspection system, have additional reasons to utilize accreditation which in any case is a growing world wide practice. We hope that other regulators would follow the example set by PNGRB, FSSAI and WDRA."
In complex and highly competitive markets, confidence is required when products or services are traded between economies. Such reassurance is underpinned by accreditation. Governments and Regulators have come to appreciate the importance of credible accreditation programs that are based on internationally-recognized standards.
Accreditation i.e. attestation of technical competence of Conformity Assessment Bodies like certification bodies, inspection bodies and laboratories is acquiring growing importance in international trade because of reference made to it in Article 6 of the WTO Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade as a means of accepting certification, Inspection reports and test reports across borders. Accreditation thus facilitates elimination of technical barriers to trade.
About Quality Council of India
Quality Council of India (QCI) is an autonomous non-profit organization set up jointly by the Government of India and the Indian Industry represented by the three premier industry associations, Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM), Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). QCI is governed by a Council of 38 members with equal representation of Government, Industry and Consumers. Chairman of QCI is appointed by the Prime Minister's Office. "Quality for National Well-being" is the mandate of QCI.
About NABL
National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) is an autonomous body under the aegis of Department of Science & Technology, Government of India, and is registered under the Societies Act. NABL has been established with the objective to provide Government, Industry Associations and Industry in general with a scheme for third-party assessment of the quality and technical competence of testing and calibration laboratories. Government of India has authorised NABL as the sole accreditation body for Testing and Calibration laboratories.
CONTACT DETAILS
Anil Jauhri, Director, National Accreditation Board for Certification Bodies (NABCB, +91 (11) 23378056/57,23378837/38
KEYWORDS
FOOD, PEOPLE, SOCIAL, MEDIA, TECHNOLOGY
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