World Accreditation Day (WAD) was commemorated on Thursday, June 09, 2016 under the theme “Accreditation – A global tool to support public policy”. WAD is a global initiative jointly established by the International Accreditation Forum (IAF) and International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) to raise awareness of the importance of accreditation-related activities.
Standards, conformity assessment and accreditation are all market-based tools that can be used by Governments to deliver better regulation, environmental protection, public safety, fraud prevention, fair and efficient markets and public trust. Indeed, Policy-makers can use services provided by accredited institutions and other Conformity Assessment Bodies to promulgate confidence in the results that influence their actions, especially if these actions are regulatory.
Being the highest level of impartial quality assessment of Conformity Assessment Bodies, such as testing, inspection and certification bodies, accreditation allows confidence in the results, findings, and decisions made by regulatory institutions. Hence, these institutions are better able to monitor their stakeholders and protect the populace. In addition, regulators derive greater recognition from accreditation through the adoption of mechanisms to deliver multi-discipline solutions that can support or act as an alternative to legislation.
Accreditation also helps to shape Government policy in relation to the trade of goods across borders, especially in complex and highly competitive markets where exporters need to demonstrate to their buyers that their products are meeting established requirements. Governments and Regulators have to recognize and advocate the use of credible accreditation programmes that are based on internationally-recognized standards to allow the ease of import/export business transactions.
Despite the growth, influence and use of accredited services across a wide range of economies there are still many more policy areas in which accreditation could be introduced as an alternative to regulation ranging from healthcare, health and safety management, education, and waste management, to name but a few.
World Accreditation Day provides an excellent 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 Government requirements.
The Guyana National Bureau of Standards (GNBS) has, over the years, spearheaded the National Committee for Conformity Assessment, which comprises of a number of Regulators to encourage their use and provision of accredited inspections and testing services. In addition, as the National Accreditation Focal Point, the Bureau has been providing support in the form of technical assistance to both public and private institutions that are interested in vying for accreditation. So far, these efforts have borne fruits as there are now two accredited laboratories in Guyana namely, Guyana Rice Development Board Central Laboratory and the Eureka Medical Laboratory Inc. This number is expected to grow as quite a few laboratories are considering taking the similar path of becoming accredited.
To conclude WAD activities for 2016, the GNBS has planned a symposium for Senior Public Sector Representatives on Wednesday, June 22, at the Impeccable Banquet Hall, Brickdam Georgetown where Accreditation and its benefits to the Public Sector will be two of the main features up for discussion.
