NSI Fishery Inspectorate Accredited!
17th, December 2009
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The Namibian Standards Institution on Thursday, 17 December 2009, held a media briefing at its offices in Walvis Bay to announce that the organisation has been granted accreditation to the international standard, ISO/IEC 17020:1998. The Certificate of Accreditation for the NSI Fishery Inspectorate was handed over by the Acting CEO of the South African National Accreditation System, SANAS, Ron Josias, to the Chief Executive Officer of the NSI, Riundja Ali Kaakunga (Othy).
The granting of accreditation to the NSI Fishery Inspectorate is an important milestone for both the NSI and the fishing industry in Namibia as it paves the way for increased confidence in Namibian fishery products inspected and certified by the NSI. According to Mr. Kaakunga, `the accreditation of the NSI Fishery Inspectorate by SANAS, recognises the Fishery Inspectorate’s competence to carry out specific tasks. Thus, the Certificates of Conformance or Health Certificates for products inspected and certified by the NSI Fishery Inspectorate would be accepted anywhere in the world.’ Three of the NSI inspectors, Ruth Shifugula, Erasmus Kakonya and Suoma Amupolo, were also approved by SANAS as technical signatories. These inspectors are approved by SANAS as technically competent persons, and are authorised by SANAS to sign certificates issued by the NSI Fishery Inspectorate as a SANAS accredited Inspection Body.
He added that, the NSI has been notified by the Ministry of Trade and Industry to the European Union (EU) as the Technical Inspection body for fish and fishery products for Namibia and products inspected and certified by the NSI are accepted into EU market since April 2009.
The Acting CEO of SANAS, Ron Josias, noted that international trade forms an integral part of a country’s economic growth. ‘Accreditation as a tool of providing formal recognition that a conformity assessment body is competent to perform a specific task, has been identified as a key component to facilitate the acceptance of goods and services nationally, regionally and internationally.’Handing over the certificate of recognition to the NSI’s Fishery Inspectorate, Mr Josias emphasised that the recognition does not only allow for the facilitation of trade, but plays a major role in the safety of the consumer and protection of the environment.
He further said that accreditation is ‘not something that you get, but something that is earned. Today the NSI Fishery Inspectorate has earned its position amongst all those worldwide accredited facilities. Namibia should be proud of this significant achievement, especially to the staff, management and regulators for this hard earned achievement.’
The NSI in particular thanked their partners in the fishing industry for their support during the accreditation phase.
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