Why NSI?
Global trade in products and services is an important
component of any modern economy. To achieve Vision 2030 Namibia needs
to strengthen its global competitiveness and ensure that its products
and services comply with international standards and that such products
are properly certified by accredited institutions.
The Namibian
fish and fishery products earmarked for export to the EC are considered
a lucrative business and very important for the country’s international
trade. At independence, the South Africa Bureau of Standards (SABS)
was contracted as the Technical Inspection Body that inspects and
certifies fish and fishery products ensuring compliance with EC Food
Law and import requirements. This arrangement was notified to and
approved by the EC Food and Veterinary Office (FVO) 1995 Inspection
Mission to Namibia and confirmed by subsequent FVO delegations and were
based on the Standards Act of 1962 and a 1991 Memorandum of
Understanding (MoU) between Government and the SABS. The 1991 MoU was
replaced by another MoU of 2006.
However, the SABS notified the Namibian Government in 2005, that as a consequence of legislative changes in South Africa, the SABS Regulatory was to be separated from the SABS. To perform the regulatory functions previously conducted by the SABS, the National Regulator for Compulsory Specifications (NRCS) was established and the same experienced technical personnel who have been servicing the SABS were transferred to the NRCS. As a result of these legislative changes in South Africa, the SABS can no longer operate in Namibia as the technical Inspection body for fish and fishery products.
Also in 2005, Parliament in Namibia passed the Standards Act (Act No 18 of 2005), that establishes the Namibian Standards Institution (NSI). The new Act and its regulations have not yet come into force. Thus, the government incorporated the NSI as a company or association not for gain in terms of the Companies Act, 1973, to operate as such until the Standards Act of 2005 is promulgated.
The NSI ensures that standards are adopted that would make the development, manufacturing and supply of products and services more efficient, safer and cleaner and facilitate trade between Namibia and other countries.What does the NSI do?
The main functions of the NSI, as set out in the Standards Act of 2005 are:
-to
prepare, issue and promote Namibian Standards and other standards,
including specifications and codes of practice, in relation to any
commodity;
- to comply with the Code of Good Practice for the
Preparation, Adoption and Application of Standards as set out in
Annexure 3 to the World Trade Organization (WTO) on Technical Barriers
to Trade (TBT) Agreement;
-
to conduct testing, inspection and certification services in respect of Namibian products and services;
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to advise the Minister on matters pertaining to standards, quality and certification;
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to establish and control laboratory facilities in relation to its functions; and
to spearhead the movement for the institution of a quality society and,
make available, in the prescribed form and manner, and at the
prescribed place and times, a list of all certified or registered
bodies to whom, or to which Marks of Conformity have been issued by the
NSI, including particulars of such marks; and organise annual Quality
Awards to deserving individuals and companies based on established
criteria.
What is the definition of Standardization?
Standardization is the activity of establishing, with regard to actual
or potential problems, provisions for common and repeated use, aimed at
the achievement of the optimum degree of order in a given context.
What is the importance of standardization?
Important benefits of standardization are improvement of the
suitability of products, process and services for their intended
purposes, prevention of barriers to trade and facilitation of
technological cooperation.
What is a standard?
A standard is a document approved by a recognized body, such as the NSI, that provides, for common and repeated use, rules, guidelines or characteristics for products or related processes and production methods, with which compliance is not mandatory. It may also include or deal exclusively with terminology, symbols, packaging, marking or labelling requirements as they apply to a product, process or production method.
Why are standards important?
- Standards make the development, manufacturing and supply of products and services more efficient, safer and cleaner.
- Standards facilitate trade between countries and provide governments with a technical base for health, safety and environmental protection and conformity assessment.
- Business using standards especially, international standards can compete on many markets around the world.
- Standards speed up the disseminations of innovations and their developments into manufacturable and marketable products and provide interoperability of goods.
- Standards serve as catalysts for technology transfer and provide assurance about the quality and reliability of products.
- Machinery and tools used in day to day life including transport, become safer when manufactured according to standards.
What is conformity Assessment?
- Demonstration that specified requirements, relating to a products, process, system, person or body are fulfilled
- Any activity concerned with determining directly or indirectly that relevant requirements are fulfilled.
What is inspection?
Inspection is an activity such as measuring, examining, testing or
gauging one or more characteristics of an entity and comparing the
results with specified requirements in order to establish whether
conformity is achieved for each characteristic.
What is calibration?
Calibration is a set of operation that establishes, under specified
conditions, the relationship between values of quantities indicated by
a measuring instrument or measuring system, or values represented by a
material measure of a reference material, and the corresponding values
realized by standards.
What is testing ?
Testing is the process that determines that a product, process or
service complies with specified requirements. Examples are tests
conducted by NSI Laboratories at the Testing and Inspection Centre in
Walvis Bay.
What is the difference between Certification and Accreditation?
Whereas certification is a procedure by which a third party
gives written assurance that a product, process or service conforms to
specific requirements, accreditation, on the other hand, is a procedure by which an authoritative body gives formal recognition that a body such as a certification body, inspection body or test and calibration laboratory or person is competent to carry out specific tasks.
An example of a certification body is the NSI Certification, and, an
internationally recognized national accreditation body (NAB) in the
Southern African Development Community (SADC), is the South African
National Accreditation System (SANAS). The SADC Accreditation Service
(SADCAS) is the multi-economy accreditation body serving those SADC
Member States without an own NAB or whose NAB provides a limited scope
of accreditation.