Publicsectorassurance.org

publicsectorassurance.org

A website to help public sector organisations learn about the benefits of using conformity

assessment

Calls to action ご検討ください

• Government can help improve the performance of business by encouraging the use of conformity assessment– 政府当局が適合性審査を奨励することにより企業の活力を向上させることができま

す

• Conformity assessment can help government deliver its policies– 適合性審査を活用することにより政策実現が可能となります

• Conformity assessment helps regulators regulate– 適合性審査は政府当局による規制実施を容易にします

• Government can improve its own performance by the use of conformity assessment by its own departments– 適合性審査を自ら受審することにより、政府当局はその有効性と効率性を向上させ

ることができます

Trade

Accredited inspection underpins Egypt’s imports and exports

The government represented by General Organization for Import and Import Control, GOEIC, has conditions of acceptance products to be imported or exported.

GOEIC sets conditions for the acceptance of imported and exported products in the customs area. GOEIC is authorised to permit or block products in the customs area. This condition stated that an inspection certificate from an accredited inspection body should be submitted.

This has improved the competitiveness and reliability of imports, as well as having a positive effect on the export sector through the acceptance of products and services overseas.This policy has supported the Egyptian Government to realise the their targets of improved product quality, especially food and water products, and increased consumer confidence.Visit the GOEIC website for further information.

Supporting US NRC policy

US NRC requires components used in power plants and fuel reprocessing plants to be safety checked and to specification.

The US NRC recognises the ILAC MRA for licensees and suppliers of basic components for use on power plants and fuel reprocessing plants from accredited laboratories.

This replaces the need to perform commercial-grade surveys for the procurement of calibration and testing services performed by domestic and international laboratories.

Supporting the Indian Steel industry

The Indian Directorate General of Foreign Trade requires steel and steel products to meet quality standards.

In order to meet demand for steel, it has relaxed its import rules, and will rely on the ILAC and IAF arrangements to maintain quality assurance.

Quality certification should be either from a product certification body (ISO Guide 65/ISO 17065) accredited by an IAF MLA signatory, or from an ISO 17020 inspection body accredited by an ILAC Signatory.

Toy Safety

CPSC requires that toys and children's products entering the US market are safe.

The CPSC issued regulations to recognise test data associated with children’s products coming from laboratories accredited by an ILAC MRA signatory accreditation body.

This move enabled CPSC to leverage its limited resources, yet provide for the acceptance of test data originating from the countries of export and reducing the need for redundant testing upon import.

TradeGulf Coast Countries (GCC) operate single Market Regulatory System

GCC Member states United Arab Emirates , Kingdom of Bahrain, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Sultanate of Oman,State of Qatar, State of Kuwait and the Republic of Yemen operate a single regulatory system to control products in the GCC market.

The System is comprised of two sets of Technical Regulations (TR):1) Horizontal Regulations applied to all products wishing to access the GCC Single market which are:a) GCC Conformity Marking TR; b) The General TR for product Safety; c) Conformity Assessment Modules.d) Notified Bodies Selection and Notification; e) Market Surveillance technical Regulation; f) Product Liability technical Regulation; g) Rapid Exchange of Information System(AGEL)

2) Vertical Regulations each addressing a Category of Products including:a) Toys (Approved); b) Low Voltage Devices (Approved); c) Other products (in process)

Accreditation is considered an essential tool for the implementation of the regulatory system as it is used in all regulations to assure the competence of notified bodies.Further information on the regulations and accreditation is available respectively from the GCC Standardization Organization (GSO) and the GCC Accreditation Center (GAC).

Trade

Chinese recognition of New Zealand certification and testing of electrical goods

The Chinese Government’s recognition of New Zealand certification and testing for electrical goods benefits exporters under the “Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EEE) Mutual Recognition Agreement”.

Under Chinese Law, certain products require Chinese Compulsory Certification (CCC) run by the Certification and Accreditation Administration of the People’s Republic of China (CNCA). That process involves testing of the product in an accredited laboratory, inspection of the factory production line and certification of the whole process by an accredited certification body, recognised by the Chinese Government under the CCC scheme. This agreement enables New Zealand to become the first country in the world to test, inspect and certify electrical products outside of China for the Chinese market.

Click here for further details

Economic Development/Trade

The New Approach in Europe

The New Approach was established in the European Union to ‘recast technical harmonisation within the European Union (EU) on a new basis by only harmonising the essential requirements of products and by applying the “general reference to standards” formula and the principle of mutual recognition in order to eliminate technical obstacles to the free movement of goods.’

The New Approach has a number of objectives, all seeking to use standardisation, to achieve aims such as supporting the single European market – especially for products, reducing barriers to trade, increasing product safety, delivering an efficient system based on consensus standards.

Product areas covered by the New Approach vary from toys to pressure equipment, from boilers to boats, from medical devices to explosives. The full range of products can be seen under the New Legislative Framework.Click here for further details

2002 study of 166 Korean companies comparing rate of environmental regulatory violation between 28 companies certified to ISO 14001 and 138 companies with no certification.

In 1998, rates of regulatory violation were 3.5% & 11.6% for certified & non-certified companies.

In 1999, rates of regulatory violation were 1% & 8.5% for certified & non-certified companies.

Source: Kwon, D.M., Seo, M.S., Seo, Y.C., (2002), ‘A study of compliance with environmental regulations of ISO 14001 certified companies in Korea’, Journal of Environmental Management, Volume 65, Part 4

Conformity Assessment as a policy tool

Conformity Assessment as a policy tool

Analysis of over 3,000 facilities regulated as major sources under the U.S. Clean Air Act suggests that ISO 14001-certified facilities reduce their pollution emissions more than non-certified facilities.

Matthew Potoski, Iowa State University; Aseem Prakash, (Potoski), University of Washington (2005), ‘Covenants with weak swords: ISO 14001 and facilities’ environmental performance’, Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, Volume 24, Issue 4, pp 745- 769.

2005 study of 3700 US facilities regulated under the Clean Air Act, compared those certified to ISO 14001 against those not.

On average, the certified companies spent 7% less days on regulatory compliance than those not certified.

Source: Potoski, M., Prakash, A. (2005), ‘Green clubs and voluntary governance: ISO 14001 and firms’ regulatory compliance’, American Journal of Political Science, Vol. 49; Issue 2

Conformity Assessment as a policy tool

The conclusion of the research ‘indicates that joining ISO 14001… improves facilities’ compliance with government regulations. We conjecture that ISO 14001 is effective because its broad positive standing with external audiences provides a reputational benefit that helps induce facilities to take costly progressive environmental action they would not take unilaterally’.

The report goes on to say , ‘The results imply that as a group ISO 14001 certified facilities have better compliance records than if they had not joined the program’. At the heart of this is the behaviour that membership of the ‘club’, in this case being certified, promotes. For example the report states, ‘We conjecture that ISO 14001’s mandated third-party auditing mitigates wilful noncompliance by compelling members to measure up to club standards while ISO 14001’s EMS standards address noncompliance stemming from ignorance by directing members’ attention to root causes of regulatory noncompliance’.

Potoski, M., Prakash, A. (2005), ‘Green clubs and voluntary governance: ISO 14001 and firms’ regulatory compliance’, American Journal of Political Science, Vol. 49; Issue 2; pp 235-248.

Conformity Assessment as a policy tool

The report suggests that the creation of a robust ‘self-regulatory institution’, such as consensus-based standards (such as ISO), certified by third-party certification who themselves are accredited by accreditation bodies, can deliver significant environmental benefits. The report’s conclusion presents a very optimistic view of systems such as ISO 14001, ‘For readers interested in practical solutions to environmental problems, the research presented in this chapter suggests that self-regulation should be taken seriously’.

‘Many firms have voted with their feet and joined prominent examples of self-regulatory institutions. Managers in these firms appear to believe that participating in these institutions will help them solve real problems. Initial empirical research suggests that some of these institutions might, indeed, help firms reduce market inefficiencies. Some appear to reduce asymmetries in information, others to facilitate coordinated investment in solutions to common problems. In the aggregate, the research reviewed reveals a world not of inevitable tragedy but of possibility.’

King, A., Toffel, M., (2007), ‘Self-regulatory Institutions for Solving Environmental Problems: Perspectives and Contributions from the Management Literature‘

Conformity Assessment as a policy tool

The research involves data from thousands of companies in the USA to evaluate their environmental performance.

Two key elements of the conclusion state that ‘third party certification may be a critical element to ensure that voluntary management programs legitimately distinguish adopters from non-adopters’. This is greatly assisted by the view that, ‘As an alternative to more prescriptive industry-specific management practices, voluntary management programs can also ensure performance improvement among its participants by requiring such improvements as a condition for ongoing participation’.

The second key element of the conclusion is a clear message for the concept of certification as a means of delivering public policy objectives, namely that, ‘regulators should seriously consider using ISO 14001 adoption as an indicator of superior (environmental) performance’.

Resolving Information Asymmetries in Markets: The Role of Certified Management Programs, Toffel, M.W., (2006)

Conformity Assessment as a policy tool

Conformity Assessment as a tool for Trade

Buyers look for proxies to assess product quality, and exporters that can provide assurance about quality gain a competitive advantage. Our paper focuses on voluntary or private regulatory programs that have emerged as important instruments to correct policy failures.

We study ISO 9000 adoption levels from 1993 to 2002 for 134 countries, and separately for non-OECD countries and non-EU countries. Across a variety of specifications, we find that trade competition drives ISO adoption.

The uptake of ISO 9000 is encouraged by ISO 9000 adoption by firms located in countries that are “structurally equivalent” trade competitors. Given that information problems about product quality are likely to be more salient for developing country exporters, we find that trade competition offers a stronger motivation for ISO 9000 adoption in non-OECD countries in relation to developed countries.

Xun Cao, Aseem Prakash, ‘Growing exports by signaling product quality: Trade competition and the cross-national diffusion of ISO 9000 quality standards‘, Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, Volume 30, Issue 1,pages 111–135, Winter 2011

Conformity Assessment as a tool for Economic Development

In this paper, we track financial performance from 1987 to 1997 of all publicly traded ISO 9000 certified manufacturing firms in the United States with SIC codes 2000–3999, and test whether ISO 9000 certification leads to productivity improvements, market benefits, and improved financial performance.

We find that firms’ decision to seek their first ISO 9000 certification was indeed followed by significant abnormal improvements in financial performance, though the exact timing and magnitude of this effect depend on the specification of the control group. Three years after certification, the certified firms do display strongly significant abnormal performance under all control-group specifications.

Corbett, C.J., Montes-Sancho, M.J., Kirsch, D.A; (2004), ‘The Financial Impact of ISO 9000 Certification in the US: An Empirical Analysis‘, Management Science; V. 51; No. 7; pp 1046-1059

For further information

Jon MurthyT: +44 20 8917 8493 | E: jm@ukas.comMarcus LongT: +44 7508 722501 | E: marcus.long@iioc.org

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