National Quality Council to Enhance Standards and Market Surveillance in Belize

The Belize Bureau of Standards (BBS) is working on finalizing the National Quality Council, following approval from the Cabinet. Last week, Cabinet announced the approval for the council, stating that it will be comprised of key relevant sectors involved in standardization. The council will be an oversight body that looks at technical regulations, metrology, accreditation, conformity assessment, and market surveillance activities.  Director of the BBS, Samantha Banner says that the work of the council will be guided by the 2022 National Quality Policy.

Samantha Banner, Director, Belize Bureau of Standards: “That policy serves as a framework for establishing Belize’s quality infrastructure system. And we’re looking at the pillars of standardization. We’re looking at metrology both from a legal and industrial perspective and we’re looking at conformity assessment systems. And this policy aims to provide a clear vision and direction for developing the quality infrastructure system in Belize. And so we, going from best practices, it requires an oversight committee and that is what the National Quality Council will serve to do. They will provide that strategic oversight to the… implementation of the National Quality Policy. So the National Quality Policy has an implementation strategy and this committee will serve to provide that guidance to the Bureau of Standards and all the relevant institutions that make up the quality infrastructure system to guide the direction and the vision of this policy. So basically, they provide that oversight to the development, the implementation of the National Quality Infrastructure Plan through different activities that will be developed by technical working groups as it relates to standards, metrology, confirmative assessment and they will be responsible for reviewing and monitoring the performance of the implementation of the plan.”

And while it all sounds very technical, Banner stressed that the overall goal is to ensure that the Belizean consumer is getting quality in the goods and services they pay for. 

Samantha Banner, Director, Belize Bureau of Standards: “Well as Belizeans, and we’re all consumers, right? We always talk about wanting quality goods or we talk about the substandard products that are on our market. And so to ensure that we’re receiving quality goods we have to properly develop the quality infrastructure system. And it’s more than just a development of standards, because a standard just sets the minimum requirements for a particular product. But what’s about ensuring that the compliance to the requirements of the standards? So there has to be mechanism in place where we can determine that the product that is being produced, a product that is being imported and sold on our market, is meeting the quality requirements. And quality requirements involves measurement as well. So you have to develop your measurement capability and that’s where metrology comes into play. And then there’s all the market surveillance and inspection that goes into it. And so this is what we’re talking about. So it goes beyond just having standards, but ensuring that the whole entire system is properly developed to ensure that we as consumers, when we go into the marketplace, we’re getting quality goods and services. And we always oftentimes speak about price and the correlation between both. So if we’re paying for quality, we expect that we’re receiving quality. If we’re paying for something by weight, we expect that we’re getting the correct amount of what we’re paying for.”

The Council is expected to hold its first meeting early next year, to sensitize members on the goals and objectives of the National Quality Policy. Thereafter, the Terms of Reference will be finalized to pave the way for implementation.