Heads of National Standards Bodies (NSBs) from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) convened at a virtual meeting today, to discuss the various standardisation mechanisms available to them.

The BRICS NSBs meeting addressed the common response to fighting the COVID-19 pandemic and concluded a draft Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) which is to be signed amongst the national standard bodies.

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the traditional processes of developing national standards and has impacted the ability of the NSBs to provide uninterrupted conformity assessment services, especially with regards to the ability of auditors to conduct onsite inspections and the ability to draw customer product samples.

The objective of the BRICS meeting was to present an opportunity for the NSBs to share their COVID-19 experiences, facilitate a discussion on the Working Mechanism on Technical Regulations, Standards, Metrology and Conformity Assessment Procedures and identify further opportunities for cooperation amongst the group in support of their national responses in the fight against the pandemic.

“All economies across the globe have been disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic and we have seen that there has been an increase in the procurement demand for Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), medical devices and supplies. Product standards and quality assurance processes are key to providing consumer confidence and demonstrating that the procured goods are fit-for-purpose, not only for the end-user but also for the purchaser.

“The creation of the BRICS Information and Sharing Platform is an important tool in sharing standardisation best practice and helps us provide information to industry and consumers on the importance and the impact that these standards have on ensuring quality products. South Africa, along with the other BRICS partners seek to collaborate in the development of standards and the provision of conformity assessment measures. Our aim is to support the eradication of poor quality products and services in all of the BRICS countries through the wide spread use of national standards,” says Jodi Scholtz, Lead Administrator of the South African Bureau of Standards (SABS).

The meeting was hosted by the Russian Federal Agency on Technical Regulating and Metrology and concluded with the undertaking of facilitating the finalisation and signing of the finalisation and signing of BRICS NSBs Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in the Field of Standardization.