GNBS launches collaborative National Standardisation Strategy

…to be worked on over next 3 years

Through an in-depth collaboration between the Guyana National Bureau of Standards (GNBS), the CARICOM Regional Organisation for Standards and Quality (CROSQ), and the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) programme, a project has been launched to execute a National Standardisation Strategy (NSS) over the next three years. This information was revealed by the GNBS in a recent press release.
According to the GNBS, the National Standardisation Strategy (NSS) aims to determine the standards needs of Guyana, encompassing all industries or sectors of the economy. It is a policy roadmap to ensure that Guyana’s national strategic priorities are supported by relevant national and international standards.
Further, the GNBS highlighted the key importance of standardisation as it relates to national development.
“Standardization remains a key pillar in national development. Whether national, regional or international, standards play an important role in daily lives, providing requirements and guidelines to ensure that products are durable, services are reliable, and there is increased confidence in the products and services marketed,” it noted.
The strategy would align national objectives with applicable standards, addressing key economic, social and environmental priorities to strengthen the National Quality Infrastructure (NQI).
This strategy, which will be available before the end of the first quarter of 2025, requires the input of all stakeholders to make meaningful suggestions and contributions to guarantee a comprehensive document.
Over the 40 years of its existence, the GNBS has facilitated the development, adoption and adaptation with modification of more than 600 national standards that fall within various categories, including Agriculture, Tourism, Manufacturing, Energy, Construction, and Oil and Gas, among others.
According to the release, as the Bureau works towards fulfilling its mandate and creating a culture of quality through standards, it appreciates the support of experts, consumers, and other stakeholders who help achieve this goal.
Meanwhile, to garner stakeholders’ input, the GNBS has disseminated a questionnaire designed to gather insights on the need for new standards, and to identify specific standards that should be developed and/or adopted to benefit each sector.
According to the GNBS, the questionnaire can be accessed via the homepage of the GNBS website: https://gnbsgy.org/, where participants are asked to answer simple questions relating to the sector they represent and their proposals for the development of standard(s).
Feedback, it adds, is critical to developing a structured and strategic NSS that sets Guyana on a pathway to guaranteeing safety and quality.
In addition, the GNBS will be hosting an in-person awareness session on Thursday, January 23, 2025, to answer questions and facilitate interactions with the facilitators of the project from CROSQ and UNIDO.
The awareness session will be hosted at the GNBS Head Office, National Exhibition Complex, Sophia, Georgetown.
For more information, persons can contact the Standardisation Department via email at [email protected] or call +592-219-0062/64/66/67 (Ext. 2012/13/14).