 
|
by Anna Maria Bartolo
Products which do not conform to international regulations and present a health or safety threat will be prevented from being put on the market.
Within the next two years, Malta will see the introduction of specific regulations while the 10,000 voluntary-based standards existing in Europe will be introduced gradually, the chairman of the Malta Standardisation Authority, Paul De Battista said at the launch of a conference "Standards. Lejn Prodott ta' Kwalita" (Standards. Towards a Better Quality Product).
This will be held on Saturday at a seminar organised by the Economics Services Ministry during the Malta Business Convention in Naxxar.
"The process has already taken too long to be introduced. Malta is one of very few countries which does not adhere to a fixed set of standards. Malta implements only 30 from the 10,000 standards," he said.
While mentioning the General Product Safety Act and the Product Liability Act being discussed in Parliament, he said the MSA was working on other draft legislations including the Metrology Act to replace the existing 1921 Weights and Measures Ordinance.
The new regulations in Malta will focus mostly on the health and safety aspect of the product which will be assessed at the new National Laboratory set up by the MSA in Evans Building. Certain aspects such as pesticide residue which could only be analysed overseas can now be analysed in the national lab, he remarked.
"I am pleased to inform everyone that the lab is undergoing its final stages of refurbishment and is already functioning," he said, adding that a company was formed three weeks ago to run the lab so as to ensure impartiality.
A total of Lm1m was invested in the sophisticated lab equipment thanks to the euro2m grant contributed by the European Union, he said.
"The lab will be eventually subject to accreditation which will help build confidence and credibility in the results being supplied by the laboratory," the MSA chairman said.
The public can recognise an approved non-food item from its CE mark, the European certification of quality. Seven non-food items have already conformed to the health and safety standards and thus bear the CE mark, he said, adding that the items included toys, pressure vessels, and gas appliances.
As of this year, a monitoring system set up by the Economics Services Ministry will check that all imported and locally manufactured products conform with international standards, he said.
To help Malta's small and medium enterprises, the MSA will set up a directorate responsible for certification of companies relating to environmental and management systems as well as product certification, he remarked.
He said that the MSA, in collaboration with the Economics Services Ministry, is having sectorial meetings to explain and discuss the new standards and laws with the business community and consumers.
Seminars were also jointly held with the Federation of Industry and Chamber of Commerce, while seminars with constituted bodies were also being planned, he said.
Parliamentary Secretary Edwin Vassallo also attended the conference and stressed the importance of moving from a closed market to an open one on a global level.
Mr Vassallo said that the new standardisation process would give a new form of protection to industry, one which "raises the quality of locally manufactured products to the same specification of the same product manufactured overseas."
He said that standards were a necessary investment for business since the business environment was becoming increasingly competitive and also because the days of monopoly were over.
"When monopoly ruled, there were no standards because success was guaranteed through the absence of competition," he said.
The guidelines for the market should be fair competition and high standards, the parliamentary secretary said, adding that quality should be measured according to specifications requested by the customer.
|
