KARACHI: The 1st meeting of Federation of Pakistan’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI)’s standing committee on “Standards, Compliances, Inspections and Certifications” Presided by Mirza Ishtiaq Baig, a leading Industrialist and Vice President FPCCI held on Tuesday, 25th July 2017 at FPCCI Head Office.
FPCCI has grand and long term plans to eradicate sub standard goods from Pakistan and this was the main reason for FPCCI decided to form a committee on “Standards, Compliances, Inspections and Certifications” , under the Leadership of Ms. Saman Laiq Abbasi.
Meeting started off with recitation of holy Quran and then formal proceeding began with a welcome address and brief presentation by Chairperson of the committee Ms. SamanLaiq Abbasi, who also presented the charter of the committee to members and participants of the meeting which are as follows;
- Construct an overarching framework to support initiatives on improving regulatory and compliance enforcement through inspections, and standardization with international best practices and certifications making them more effective and efficient.
- One of the objectives is to address the integrity and effectiveness of related issues currently present in the industry and increase the professionalism and effectiveness of personnel by developing policies, standards, and standardized benchmarking approaches in the overall industry.
- Identifying gaps in the current system of monitoring & oversight for the industry in general and present effective solutions through brainstorming sessions involving industrial leaders, regulators and think tanks of the related field.
Main agenda items of the meeting are;
- Mega Conference on World Standard Day (Ideas & Suggestions)
- Current Hygiene & HSE Standards in food and other industries
Item number one of the agenda was widely appreciated by all the participants and with an idea for holding this Mega Conference on World Standard Day and suggestions to invite leading personalities, officials of Pakistan Standards & Quality Control Authority (PSQCA), Pakistan National Accreditation Council (PNAC) and Copyright Registration Authorities (CRA).
For item number of two of the agenda Mr. Rehmatullah Memon, senior official from Pakistan Standards & Quality Control Authority (PSQCA), briefed on the standards, certification and monitoring by PSQCA. He informed that currently there are 75 officers posted in Pakistan out of which 40 are posted in Karachi. He also showed their lack of manpower in other provinces of Pakistan, which resulting and affecting their services and monitoring to those companies who are not following the standards and laboratory testing of their products. He gave some examples of their raids on the companies and also informed that they received threats from the persons.He requested the Chairperson of the Committee Ms. Saman Laiq Abbasi and Vice President FPCCI Mirza Ishtiaq Baig to come forward to support their PSQCA which will be a great support.
Speaking on this occasion Mirza Ishtiaq Baig, Vice President of FPCCI said that their should be regular and frequent meetings of this committee to address the issues related to it and to different companies working in trade, industry and services. He also said that small units and medium sized units should also be invited to this meeting to make them aware of standardization and certification. He also said that this committee should also invite concerned persons from food department of Government of Sindh.
Mirza Ishtiaq Baig also showed his great concern about the unethical raids by the PSQCA and other departments to those companies working transparently in their areas of interest but officials are they are threatening them.
Dr. Farhan Essa Abdullah, Vice Chairman of the Committee suggested to form small groups with-in the committee to look after micro affairs and also other provinces, this will be beneficial for the trade industry and services of the Pakistan as well as for the result oriented programs of the Committee.
Mr. Amjad Qureshi DSG FPCCI seconded the proposal by Dr. Farhan Essa Abdulah, for creation of small groups of the committee. He also proposed that FPCCI may circulate through a notification to the members trade bodies of FPCCI and to invite them as a member of the committee (two members from each trade body) and after receiving competent names, the committee may divide them into different groups representing different provinces of Pakistan for the committee as a member.
Ms. Uzma Sabir, Senior Vice Chairperson of the Committee also presented her valuable comments on the Standards, Compliances, Inspections& Certifications and briefed the house about the role of PSQCA its actual role. She emphasized that the PSQCA has to play its due role.
The meeting ended with the vote of thanks by Dr. Farhan Essa, Vice Chairman of the Committee. He appreciated the active participation and involvement of leading professionals from Standard, certification, compliance and Inspection industry to join hands with FPCCI Standing Committee on Standards, Compliances, Inspection & Certification to bring a Safe & Quality culture in the country. Biz Today Correspondent
