2009-06-10
National Accreditation Agency Launched
June 09, 2009
Jamaica today fulfilled a vital element in the process of ensuring that its products meet internationally-accepted standards, with the formal launch of the Jamaica National Agency for Accreditation (JANAAC).
Prime Minister Bruce Golding who officially launched the Agency said Jamaica has had to confront a number of barriers, such as the application of standards, that represent serious impediments to economic growth.
JANAAC will ensure that assessment entities such as laboratories, certification bodies and other inspection authorities are suitably accredited to conform to international standards, in areas such as technical regulations, certification and testing, as well as measurement and inspection.
Speaking also at the launch, Minister of Industry, Investment & Commerce, Karl Samuda noted that Jamaica’s economic development depended on ensuring that the country’s goods and services are competitive and conformed to the quality demanded by the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
“It is only through this process by which we can say to the world that our products have received the accreditation which is internationally accepted and respected that we will be able to demand our rightful place in the international trade community,” the Minister declared.
Emphasizing that appropriate technology is the most significant element of business development, the Minister Samuda urged the various bodies that will be accredited by JANAAC to ensure that they themselves introduce suitable technological development that will improve their chances of being accredited.
Turning to CARICOM standards and regulations, the Trade Minister called for consistency in what is deemed an ‘accrediting organisation’ and the process by which the integrity of products are certified. This, he said, was particularly important with respect to food and drug.
JANAAC is an agency of the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce. Its mission is to ensure that Jamaican business entities produce and trade goods and services of consistently high quality.
As a signatory to the WTO, Jamaica must abide by its rules of trade which require that safety and quality of products be proven through transparent and reliable systems of conformity assessments, in order to eliminate technical barriers to trade.