Acting Senior Director for Accreditation, Training and Quality Management at JANAAC Global Accreditation, Gabrielle Andrade Bell, underscores the critical role of accreditation in supporting Jamaica’s trade competitiveness and economic growth during a recent Jamaica Information Service (JIS) ‘Think Tank’.
JANAAC Global Accreditation is encouraging small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to leverage accreditation as a strategic tool for business expansion, operational strengthening, and global market access.
Acting Senior Director for Accreditation, Training and Quality Management, Gabrielle Andrade Bell, emphasised the vital role of accreditation in strengthening Jamaica’s trade competitiveness and economic growth during a recent Jamaica Information Service (JIS) ‘Think Tank’.
“Accreditation enables SMEs to meet international standards, which allows them to speak the language of global trade. We live in a global economy, and we have a very small environment here in our own country. So if you want to grow your business, you must start offering those services outside our shores,” she emphasised.
Mrs. Andrade Bell maintained that “to do that, you must speak their language”, pointing out that “you may not speak the official language of the country, but when you use Standards, you speak the same language”.
“Accreditation also reduces business risks and eliminates costs and delays associated with repeated testing, multiple inspections and certification audits, and importantly, accreditation increases stakeholder confidence in the safety, quality [and] reliability of goods and services supplied,” she added.
The Acting Senior Director told JIS News that accreditation also serves as a catalyst for innovation and quality.
“Through conformity assessment activities, such as your medical and laboratory testing, certification and inspection, you as the SME can improve your internal systems, enhance your product quality, and introduce innovations with greater quality assurance,” Mrs. Andrade Bell explained.
Additionally, accreditation empowers SMEs to showcase competence and reliability, enabling them to meet international standards, secure contracts across the public and private sectors, and foster sustainable, resilient operations.
“By improving governance, reducing business risks, and fostering a culture of continuous improvement, accreditation helps you, as an SME, to build that resilient operation, weathering any economy and industrial shift,” Mrs. Andrade Bell stated.
With accreditation at its core, JANAAC offers nine internationally recognised accreditation schemes, tailored to specific sectors.
These include the ISO 15189 Standard for Medical Laboratories engaged in blood work and other clinical testing and ISO/IEC 17025 for Testing Laboratories (non-clinical samples, such as soil, water and food).
Calibration Laboratories are also accredited under the ISO/IEC 17025 Standard, which ensures that the weight of purchases, such as gasolene, is accurate.
There is also the ISO/IEC 17020 Standard for Inspection Bodies, ISO/IEC 17021-1 for Certification Bodies offering Quality Management Systems (QMS) certification, ISO/IEC 17024 for personnel certification of mechanics and cosmetologists, and ISO/IEC 17065 for certifying products and processes.
“JANAAC is also one of only four accreditation bodies globally recognised by the United States (US) Food and Drug Administration (FDA) under the Accredited Third-Party Certification Program (FDA-TPP). This allows certification bodies accredited by JANAAC to conduct audits of food manufacturers on behalf of the FDA. In addition, the agency is approved for the FDA Laboratory Accreditation for Analyses of Foods (LAAF) Program, which allows laboratories to test food that is held at US wharves,” Mrs. Andrade Bell outlined.
She emphasised that these international recognitions strengthen trust in trade.
“Through our accreditation programme, we confirm the competence of conformity assessment bodies (CABs) to produce quality, safe and reliability of goods and services traded in the marketplace,” Mrs. Andrade Bell further stated.
JANAAC also facilitates training through its dedicated Training Institute.
Mrs. Andrade Bell pointed out that “SMEs can avail themselves of these services from world-class experts with intimate knowledge of these accreditation Standards, allowing you to get real-world examples and case studies that apply to us, right here in the region”.
She assured that “you will get examples from the people who implemented these Standards as well as an opportunity to understand the true meaning behind what these [require] you to do, and this allows for you to have a seamless process when the time for accreditation comes”.
JANAAC has accredited 77 conformity assessment bodies across the region, spanning medical laboratories, testing and calibration facilities, inspection bodies, and certification bodies, while 15 more are currently seeking accreditation.
“The benefits of JANAAC’s Accreditation services are far-reaching. While we encourage manufacturers and exporters to produce goods and services of consistently high quality that meet international standards, we also encourage them to use JANAAC’s world-class Training Institute to ensure that you can effectively and efficiently do so,” Mrs. Andrade Bell said.
For more information on JANAAC’s training and accreditation services, persons may visit www.janaac.gov.jm or call 876-968-7790/ 876-968-7799.
Source: JIS
