Ministry Prepares Draft Quality Policy

Addis Ababa December 26/2020 (ENA) Ministry of Trade and Industry said it has prepared a draft quality policy to ensure the standard of products and services. 

The country had no quality policy and the drafted policy would serve as a legal framework for  national quality assurance institutions in identifying the international quality standard fulfillment of products and services, Trade and Industry State Minister Eshete Asfaw said.  

The policy would also help to improve competitiveness in export-import trade, he added.

According to him, there are “now about 253 compulsory standards and some 11,200 Ethiopian standards. Those standards need policy framework.”

Eshetu stated that the draft quality policy will soon be tabled for consultation with pertinent stakeholders.

The state minister noted that Ethiopia is benchmarking experiences of countries like Germany, which is among the top countries in product quality, and South Africa.

Ethiopian Standards Agency, Ethiopian National Accreditation Office and Ethiopian Conformity Assessment Enterprise are among the national quality infrastructure institutions in place to assure standard quality of products and services.