Abu Dhabi, 04 November 2020: The Abu Dhabi Quality and Conformity Council (QCC) has announced the implementation of a joint project to improve the quality and enhance the competitiveness of local products in the domestic and global markets.
Abu Dhabi, 04 November 2020: The Abu Dhabi Quality and Conformity Council (QCC) has announced the implementation of a joint project to improve the quality and enhance the competitiveness of local products in the domestic and global markets.
As part of the project carried out in cooperation with the Industrial Development Bureau of Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development (ADDED), five technical standards and conformity schemes have been developed for five locally manufactured products in the first half of this year.
HE Dr. Helal Humaid Al Kaabi, Secretary-General of the QCC, affirmed that the council’s cooperation with the Bureau comes as part of its strategy aimed at enhancing community safety and security standards, and upgrading the quality of the local industry. It is in line with the council’s ongoing endeavor to make the most conformity schemes and Abu Dhabi technical documents and continuously improve the quality of local products in the emirate.
“The council in coordination with the ADDED’s Bureau and a number of relevant government agencies and representatives of the industrial sector in the emirate, is all set to launch another package of mandatory conformity schemes to protect local products. These schemes will be updated periodically to give the industrial sector more flexibility and help them increase their market share and lower their operating costs,” Al Kaabi added.
“The QCC and the Bureau are now in the process of carrying out a study to assess the impact of implementing conformity schemes on a cluster of local industrial products that will be targeted in the next phase. However, these schemes will be taking into account not to add operational burdens on industrial establishments that will promote the quality of their products,” he noted.
Al Kaabi highlighted that the two entities are currently putting in place final preparations to organize periodic technical meetings and workshops for industrial establishments to promote their awareness on the importance of conformity schemes and technical standards being followed locally. It is also to encourage them to implement these schemes owning to the subsequent positive impact that they will leave on the quality of local products, he said, adding that the council will issue conformity certificates for compliant companies with a special stamp on their products with a Trustmark.
For his part, H.E. Rashid Abdul Karim Al Balooshi, Undersecretary of ADDED, stressed the Bureau’s keenness to boost its cooperation with the council to further enhance the quality of industrial products and ensure their compliance with the approved technical standards and UAE standard specifications. “We will do our utmost to provide quality products that conform to the national specifications, serve consumers and enhance the value and competitiveness of the local industrial sector,” Al Balooshi added.
“The Bureau is taking all necessary actions to monitor local products that compete with imported ones in the market, and is working in cooperation and coordination with the QCC and other relevant authorities to develop and improve the quality of these products and ensure their continued availability in the market,” the Undersecretary of ADDED noted.
Al Balooshi clarified that a number of mandatory conformity schemes have already been launched including the cement products conformity scheme, which aims to bolster the quality of local cement products and ban the use of low-quality cement in construction and development projects. This scheme was implemented in cooperation with strategic partners including the Department of Municipalities and Transport (DMT) and Musanada.
“The existing technical standards related to interlocking tiles was also amended under this scheme to reduce the required standards while preserving the quality of the product and reducing the financial cost for the producing factories.
We have also coordinated with the Environment Agency (EAD) and representatives of the plastic industry sector to set technical standards for multi-use plastic bag products, which are witnessing growing domestic and foreign demand, to support the multi-use bags policy launched in March 2020 by the EAD,” Al Balooshi stated.
He went on to say that the ADDED’s Bureau in cooperation with relevant bodies has submitted a request concerning the mandatory standards that must be made available in face masks and surface sterilizers. Accordingly, the Emirates Authority for Standardization and Metrology (ESMA) issued a nation-wide binding decision on these mandatory standards early this year to maintain the quality of these products given they are witnessing an increasing demand.
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