Seated left to right (1st row): Mary Saunders, chief, Standards Services Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology; Glen Fine, executive vice president, Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute; Gaby Lubiba Mampuya, technical assistant of the managing director, Office Congolais de Controle; Kitty Kono, vice president, global cooperation, ASTM International; Maureen Mutasa, director general, Standards Association of Zimbabwe; Shafeenaaz Nurmahomed, Embassy of the Republic of Mauritius; W. Ocheme Okpeh, head, ASTM matters, Standards Organization of Nigeria; Hratch Semerjian, chief scientist, National Institute of Standards and Technology; June Ling, associate executive director, codes and standards, American Society for Mechanical Engineers
Seated left to right (2nd row): Greg Saunders, chairman of the board, ASTM International, and director of the Defense Standardization Program of the U.S. Department of Defense; James Kojo Buabeng, director of finance, Ghana Standards Board; James Thomas, president, ASTM International; Karen Burress, senior international trade specialist; U.S. Department of Commerce; Charles Malata-Chirwa, director general, Malawi Bureau of Standards; Mataa Mukelabi, director, Zambia Bureau of Standards; Elsie Meintjies, managing director, Botswana Bureau of Standards; Gary Kushnier, vice president, international policy, American National Standards Institute; Steven Bipes, director international policy, regional and bilateral programs; American National Standards Institute; Henson Dlamini, administrator, Standardization and Quality Assurance Section, Swaziland
Standing left to right: Guillaume Ligongo Maliba, director of standardization management, Office Congolais de Controle; Mesai Girma, director general, Quality and Standards Authority of Ethiopia; John Akanya, director general, Standards Organization of Nigeria; Obiora Manafa, head, metrology, Standards Organization of Nigeria; Martin J. Kuscus, chief executive officer, South African Bureau of Standards; Jay Peters, executive director, plumbing and mechanical programs, International Code Council; Khemraj Ramful, director, Mauritius Standards Bureau; Adu Gyamfi Darkwa, executive director, Ghana Standards Board
Over the course of three days in May, executives from the national standards bodies of 11 African countries met at ASTM International headquarters in West Conshohocken, Pa., for the Open House for Sub-Saharan Africa Standards Leaders. ASTM International sponsored the Open House in cooperation with the American National Standards Institute and the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
Executives from the national standards bodies of Botswana, Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Mauritius, Nigeria, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe attended the Open House, which was held May 16-18. These executives were joined by representatives from ASTM International, ANSI, NIST, the United States Trade Representative’s office, the International Code Council, the American Society for Mechanical Engineers, the U.S. Department of Defense and the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute. Representatives from each of these groups explained the roles their organizations play in the realm of international standardization.
The Open House program provides an opportunity to discuss important issues regarding the challenges to developing countries, new technologies for standards development, ASTM International’s memorandum of understanding program and other topics related to international standardization. Throughout the Open House, the executives from Africa and the United States explored a variety of standardization issues facing Sub-Saharan Africa and simply got to know each other better. The discussions that resulted from presentations made throughout the workshop were open, honest and optimistic (while still being realistic) and may pave the way for future collaborations among the attending organizations.
Introductions and Issues
After an opening day spent visiting Philadelphia landmarks and becoming better acquainted during an evening reception, Open House participants were welcomed to the event the following morning by Kitty Kono, ASTM vice president, global cooperation. In her opening remarks, Kono said, “This program has been in the planning for over one year and seeing you all here with us today is the fulfillment of a dream.”
Also extending greetings were James A. Thomas, president, ASTM International; Gary Kushnier, vice president, international policy, American National Standards Institute; and Hratch Semerjian, chief scientist, U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology.
In his opening comments, Thomas said, “You have come a long way here hoping to learn how we can work together in a spirit of cooperation. ASTM shares this same goal. This Open House is an expression of our interest in building relationships between our organizations.” Kushnier said that the time and effort involved in traveling to ASTM headquarters was an indication of the high level of interest participants had in learning more about the standardization system in the United States. During his opening remarks, Semerjian cited the example of the Egyptian cubit to remind everyone that the origins of standardization reside in Africa.
Following the welcomes, representatives from each of the 11 African national standards bodies introduced themselves and their organizations. During these introductions, participants provided a brief history of their standards body and talked about challenges currently facing them. To read more about these introductions, see the sidebar beginning on the previous page.
Throughout the introductions, Teresa Cendrowska, ASTM director of external relations, compiled a list of issues and challenges as they were mentioned. This list reinforced the ties shared by standards organizations in Sub-Saharan Africa. The following are some of the needs that emerged during this section of the Open House:
• Creating awareness among the general population and among potential stakeholders of standards and their value;
•Improving systems of enforcement for product quality;
• Eliminating dumping of substandard materials and products;
• Supporting more advanced testing capacity;
• Gaining greater and better participation;
• Capacity building;
• Obtaining greater use of voluntary standards by regulators; and
• Financing of standards process.
While all of these issues generated interest at the Open House, capacity building struck a familiar chord among all the assembled delegates, with standards emerging as a way to deal with the issue. “ASTM standards have become the industry practice, we don’t have to re-invent the wheel,” said Martin Kuscus, chief executive officer, South African Bureau of Standards. “Given limited resources worldwide, the sooner we cooperate, the better to breach the capacity gaps.”
The Thursday morning session concluded with an address by James A. Thomas, who said that the purpose of the Open House was to acknowledge and deepen the connections among the organizations involved and to present the benefits of developing standards within ASTM— an international organization that is accessible and permits direct participation. Speaking about the workshop, Thomas said, “One of our great hopes is to reveal the opportunities that could exist for cooperation among our organizations.”
USTR: Building a Success Highway
The Open House sessions began on Thursday afternoon with a luncheon speaker, Florizelle Liser, assistant U.S. trade representative for Africa, who spoke from Washington, D.C., via videoconference. Liser was joined by Patrick Coleman, director for African affairs, USTR, and Betsy Stillman, director for technical barriers to trade issues, USTR.
Liser said that the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is helping to “build a success highway,” in Sub-Saharan Africa. “We want to help build the capacity on the ground in Africa and make sure that Africans can move things forward themselves.”
Liser described what the USTR office is doing to strengthen the trade and investment relationship between the United States and Sub-Saharan Africa. She spoke specifically about the African Growth and Opportunity Act which is at the center of U.S. trade and investment policy on Africa. AGOA was passed as part of the Trade and Development Act of 2000 and provides eligible countries in Sub-Saharan Africa with the most liberal access to the U.S. market available, to any country or region with which the United States does not have a Free Trade Agreement.
In addition, AGOA reinforces African reform efforts, provides improved access to U.S. credit and technical expertise, and establishes a high-level dialogue on trade and investment through the U.S.-Sub-Saharan Africa Trade and Economic Forum.
Liser noted that there are many aspects to AGOA, but the most important is that it eliminates tariffs on more than 6,000 products that eligible African countries might export to the United States.
According to Liser, AGOA has been a success, particularly in boosting non-traditional imports such as apparel and cut flowers, as well as value-added goods including processed food and industrial products. “By eliminating tariffs on processed and manufactured goods, AGOA is helping African exporters to move up the value chain — from cotton to apparel, from unprocessed fruits to canned fruits and juices, and from iron ore to automobiles,” said Liser.
Liser concluded her presentation by saying that the work of the USTR on standards and trade in Sub-Saharan Africa will help pave the way to increased African market access and global competitiveness, improved development and implementation of domestic regulatory regimes within African countries, and greater cooperation and compliance with international disciplines and commitments related to standards.
Adding to the Conversation
Presentations from Gary Kushnier (ANSI), Mary Saunders (NIST), Jay Peters (the International Code Council) and June Ling (ASME) followed Liser’s on Thursday afternoon (see page 28 for details). Each was followed by brief but lively question-and-answer sessions that touched on points made by the presenter, as well as other issues that had been raised earlier during the Open House.
Each presentation added immensely to the ongoing conversation that was developing as the Open House progressed. This is also true of presentations given on Friday morning by Greg Saunders (U.S. Department of Defense), Glen Fine (Clinical and Labororatory Standards Institute), Kitty Kono and James Olshefsky (both of ASTM International).
New Collaborations, Possible Solutions
The Open House drew to a close with a conversation about ways to follow up on ideas generated during the program. While it was acknowledged that the issues list created during the self-introductions is large and complex, there was also a feeling of optimism that new collaborations and possible solutions could ultimately emerge from the Open House discussions.
Noting that “this is about partnership,” Martin Kuscus said of the Open House, “I am walking away with a better understanding of your system.” His sentiments were echoed by Maureen Mutasa, director general, Standards Association of Zimbabwe, who said, “I believe there is much we can learn from this forum.”
“Our candid and engaging discussion over the past three days has helped us all to better understand each other and how we can work together in the future,” noted James A. Thomas at the conclusion of the Open House. “This event is just the beginning of what we hope will be increased collaboration and openess, which has been the hallmark of ASTM International and our consensus process. We look forward to working with all of you to increase our mutual success in the months and years ahead.”
The Open House for Sub-Saharan Africa was the fourth in a series of ASTM programs bringing together national standards bodies. Previous open houses were held for Latin American, Caribbean countries and Canada (November 2001); Asia Pacific countries (September 2003); and the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia (July 2005). //
Executives Present Histories and Challenges of African National Standards Bodies
Presentations Highlight Diversity of Voluntary Standardization System
Obiora Manafa, head, metrology, Standards Organization of Nigeria
Hratch Semerjian, chief scientist, National Institute of Standards and Technology
(Left to right) Henson Dlamini, Swaziland Ministry of Enterprise and Employment, and Martin J. Kuscus, South African Bureau of Standards
W. Ocheme Okpeh, head, ASTM matters, Standards Organization of Nigeria
Shafeenaaz Nurmahomed, Embassy of the Republic of Mauritius
Gaby Lubiba Mampuya, technical assistant of the managing director, Office Congolais de Controle, Congo
(left to right) Khemraj Ramful, Mauritius Standards Bureau, and Glen Fine, Clinical and Laboratroy Standards Institute
(Onscreen, left to right) Patrick Coleman, Florizelle Liser and Betsy Stillman, all of the U.S. Trade Representative office, appeared via video conference from Washington, D.C., at the Open House.
Mesai Girma, director general, Quality and Standard Authority of Ethiopia
ELSIE MEINTJIES, managing director, Botswana Bureau of Standards. Meintjies presented a short video that has been created to introduce the concept of standardization to the general population of Botswana. She noted that while there are a number of interrelated issues facing BOBS, one that stands out is simply finding people to be involved in standardization activities. It is a challenge to find more stakeholders to write the standards as well as to solicit public comment on standards work.
GUILLAUME LIGONGO MALIBA, director of standardization management, Office Congolais de Controle. Maliba spoke of the importance of standardization in Congo as a way of promoting healthy living to consumers and controlling fair trade in terms of quality, quantity, conformity and price for imports to and exports from Congo. Initially, the mission of the OCC was only to analyze samples of natural resources such as minerals, coffee, timber and all products intended
for exportation. Today, as the volume of imports has increased, the mission has changed into analyzing products such as imported food, drugs, cosmetics and chemicals. According to Maliba, standardization is a relatively new activity in the country, with standards development beginning in 2000. In addition to international and regional adopted standards, OCC is working to promote standardization and standards of natural resources that are of interest to African consumers. Following the Open House, Office Congolais de Controle signed a memorandum of understanding with ASTM International (see page 29).
MESAI GIRMA, director general, Quality and Standards Authority of Ethiopia. Girma described the activities of the Quality and Standards Authority of Ethiopia, which was founded in 1970 and restructured in 1998. He said the goal of QSAE is to be a national center of excellence for standards development. Girma also noted that creating a formal infrastructure for quality is a challenge currently faced by QSAE. QSAE signed an MOU with ASTM International in 2005.
ADU GYAMFI DARKWA, executive director, Ghana Standards Board. In a brief presentation, Darkwa outlined the history of the Ghana Standards Board. Established in 1967, it is responsible for metrology, standards, testing and quality assurance. He also spoke of GSB’s challenges in becoming more internationally competitive as well as to create more awareness of the use of standards in people’s everyday lives.
CHARLES MALATA-CHIRWA, director general, Malawi Bureau of Standards. In his presentation on the MBS, Malata-Chirwa noted that the organization has been in existence since 1972. He said that MBS wants to participate in the international standardization process but that the accreditation of laboratories continues to present a challenge. Malata-Chirwa said that the government of Malawi is supporting a way forward that includes consultations with stakeholders, strengthening the mandate of the MBS and improving resources and facilities.
KHEMRAJ RAMFUL, director, Mauritius Standards Bureau. For the island country of Mauritius, standards are part of a plan to develop new economic growth engines, improve energy efficiency and enhance the tourism sector of the economy, according to Ramful. However, he also noted that getting the word out to the public on the role and purpose of standards has been challenging. The Mauritius Standards Bureau, set up in 1975, is 30 percent self-sustained but is working toward 100 percent self-sufficiency. MSB signed an MOU with ASTM International in 2005.
JOHN AKANYA, director general/chief executive, Standards Organization of Nigeria. The Standards Organization of Nigeria was founded in 1971. SON has its corporate headquarters in Abuja, its operational headquarters in Lagos and offices in nearly all of Nigeria’s 36 states. In his presentation, Akanya said that some of the challenges facing SON are an influx of sub-standard products into Nigeria, an absence of standards and test criteria in some imported products and enforcement difficulties at the port of entry and at borders. Another challenge noted was the local content initiative of the federal government of Nigeria, especially in the oil and gas sector where it is required that materials and expertise should be sourced locally to encourage indigenous companies. Such initiatives require adequate standardization to succeed. SON signed an MOU with ASTM International in 2004.
MARTIN J. KUSCUS, chief executive officer, South African Bureau of Standards. The South African Bureau of Standards was established in 1945 as the national institution for standardization in South Africa. Currently, SABS has aligned its activities with seven different industry sectors: chemicals, electrochemical, food and health, mechanical and materials, mining and minerals, services, and transportation. Kuscus said that dealing with capacity variances, quality infrastructure and the need to find the right industry and government balance in standards developing activities are among the standardization issues that SABS currently faces. He also noted the importance of avoiding any unnecessary barriers to trade. SABS signed an MOU with ASTM International in 2003.
HENSON DLAMINI, quality assurance system administrator, Standardization and Quality Assurance Section, Swaziland Ministry of Enterprise and Employment. The section was created as the precursor of the Swaziland Standards Authority, which is in the process of being established and will be officially launched in the near future. Dlamini said that the country has a small industrial base and that institutional structures to establish quality assurance are needed. Related to this, Dlamini stated that the organization hopes to create consumer quality awareness campaigns.
MATAA MUKELABAI, executive director, Zambia Bureau of Standards. According to Mukelabai, some of the current challenges facing ZABS are the small number of technical experts available to develop standards and the need for import quality monitoring and product certification. ZABS has signed memorandums of understanding with ASTM International (2004), the Malawi Bureau of Standards and the Standards Association of Zimbabwe.
MAUREEN P. MUTASA, director general, Standards Association of Zimbabwe. The Standards Association of Zimbabwe was formed in 1957 and incorporated in 1960 as a non-government body. Its mission is to develop and encourage the widespread use of standards by clients in order to improve the quality and competitiveness of Zimbabwean products and safeguard the health and safety of communities. According to Mrs. Mutasa, the primary concerns about standardization in Zimbabwe are the low level of awareness on the need and importance of standardization among the general public and industry, particularly the small enterprises and the informal sector, and the minimal use of voluntary standards in regulations. On the other hand, the prevailing macroeconomic environment in Zimbabwe has frustrated efforts to develop the national standardization infrastructure at a pace fast enough to keep up with international developments. SAZ signed an MOU with ASTM International in 2002. //
GARY KUSHNIER, vice president, international policy, ANSI. Noting that “the international language of commerce is standards,” Kushnier focused on three key points: the importance of standards and conformance; the U.S. approach to standards and conformance; and an overview of the ANSI federation.
Mary Saunders, chief, standards services division, technology services, NIST. Saunders spoke on the U.S. government’s use of voluntary standards. She described the U.S. voluntary standards system as taking place in the private sector with government participation. It works through cooperation and communication with stakeholders and meets their needs by supporting the protection of health, safety and the environment, enhancing industry competitiveness and contributing to a liberalized global trading system.
Jay Peters, executive director, plumbing and mechanical programs, International Code Council. Peters provided an overview of the International Code Council, as well as speaking generally about building codes and their global importance. Peters noted that, because of the diversity in construction throughout the world, building codes often must be adapted for local conditions.
June Ling, associate executive director, American Society of Mechanical Engineers. “The standards community is a family,” said Ling during her presentation. “We all have the same purpose: safety and improving the economy.” Ling described ASME as an organization that works toward these goals by promoting “the art, science and practice of mechanical and multidisciplinary engineering and allied sciences to diverse communities throughout the world.” She spoke of the purpose of ASME and the process by which the organization develops its codes, standards and conformity assessment programs.
Gregory Saunders, director, Defense Standardization Program, U.S. Department of Defense. Saunders, who is also chairman of the ASTM International board of directors, discussed the standardization activities of the U.S. military. He noted that while the Department of Defense still develops standards for military-unique items, it depends on thousands of voluntary standards from the private sector, including many from ASTM.
Glen Fine, executive vice president, Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute. CLSI uses a consensus-driven process to develop standards and guidelines in healthcare medical laboratory testing. Fine described the importance of healthcare standards in medical labs, particularly in the fight against HIV/AIDS, and spoke of current work by CLSI in Tanzania, Nigeria, Namibia and Zimbabwe.
Kitty Kono, vice president, global cooperation, ASTM International. Kono spoke of ASTM International’s memorandum of understanding program. The program establishes partnerships and promotes communication, using ASTM’s resources to strengthen national standards bodies and to promote greater global input into the content of ASTM standards. Kono described the responsibilities and benefits of the MOU for national standards bodies and ASTM International.
James Olshefsky, director, committee services, ASTM International. Olshefsky outlined the ways in which ASTM International has used the Internet to provide greater worldwide access to its standardization activities. These include virtual training for MOU countries, virtual meetings, electronic registration of new work items, standards searches and electronic balloting.
James Thomas, president, ASTM International, stated that the purposes of the Open House were to welcome Sub-Saharan Africa to the ASTM system of standards development, to acknowledge and deepen the connection between ASTM and the national standards bodies and to present the benefits of developing standards in an international standards developing organization that is accessible and permits direct participation. //