At present, Nepali exporters are compelled to rush to the nearest Indian laboratories to get quality certification for their products in absence of laboratories with global recognition in Nepal.[break]
In order to get recognition from International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC), the world governing body for world standard certification, each country has to enact related laws that would govern the establishment and regulation of international standard labs.
Lila Devi Gartaula, under-secretary of the Ministry of Industry (MoI), said, “We are sending the Nepal Accreditation Development Committee Formation Order to the cabinet soon as the parliament has failed to act on the Accreditation Board Act waiting approval since a long time.” According to Gartaula, once the formation order is endorsed by the cabinet, the process of establishment of international class laboratories will speed up.
The MoI, the ministry responsible for formulating the proposed formation order, has already received consent from line ministries including the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives (MoAC) and Ministry of Law and Justice (MoLJ). Ministry of Commerce and Supplies (MoCS) is giving its nod within a couple of days.
According to Gartaula, the formation order envisages the authority on different subject-wise accreditation boards. The proposed 15-member board will be represented by experts from different sectors including agriculture, health, among others.
Similarly, Nepal Accreditation Development Committee will be authorized to issue licenses to laboratory examiners who are experts in quality testing and will be responsible to certify the quality of goods tested in the recognized laboratories.
The committee will be funded by the government for initial three years until it becomes self-sustaining from its own income sources including licenses fees or other royalties.
To ensure proper regulation of laboratories and quality examiners, the proposed formation order provisions penalties for the violators.
“We have proposed a fine of Rs 50,000 to any laboratories issuing quality certification without receiving license from the board. The penalty would be doubled if such breaches are repeated. The board can even scrap the license in case of violation of provisions,” said Gartaula.
To make lab examiners more responsible, the order also has provisions to slap a fine of Rs 25,000 if they failed to fulfill their duty sincerely and a penalty of Rs 50,000 if they repeat mistakes.
Exporters of agriculture produces, handicrafts and silver products have been facing problems in getting international standardization, hindering their exports to overseas markets.
Keeping in view the difficulties in acquiring standard certification, different donor agencies are interested for human resource development and laboratory enhancements at government´s Department of Food Technology and Quality Control (DFTQC) and Nepal Bureau of Standards and Metrology (NBSM).
The European Commission (EC) recently agreed to provide US$ 9 million for three years beginning from next year for upgrading DFTQC into a powerful Food Safety Authority and promoting Nepali exportable products.
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