ISLAMABAD: The future of the national standards agency — Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority (PSQCA) — is in doldrums as the Ministry of Science and Technology has decided to strip its authority of testing functions.

In a recent directive to the PSQCA director general, the minister for science and technology has directed the authority to not only stop testing of products, but also the hand over all of its four labs to Pakistan Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (PCSIR).

The PCSIR, another attached department under the Ministry of Science and Technology, was established in 1953 primarily with the focus to utilise indigenous resources for development and promotion of industrial sector leading to import substitution and export enhancement.

Currently the PCSIR is serving over 4,000 SMEs annually all over the country in quality control, analytical and testing areas.

Fawad says move will end corruption

“The key serving area of PCSIR is to promote the R&D service among the small and medium enterprises because large units and multinational companies have their own research cells,” said an official of the ministry.

However, the PSQCA was established in 1996 to provide one-window services for standardisation and conformity assessment of products and services to meet international obligations.

The PSQCA has the mandate to enforce and implement the quality and environmental management systems that is ISO 9001:2000 and ISO 14000 and assistance to local industries to obtain certifications for these systems.

The move has created confusion also among exporters as the PSQCA is the Pakistan’s body for inspection and testing of products regarding quality specification and characteristics for manufacturing and import or export.

“The issue is that the PSQCA was established under an act of parliament and the ministry cannot stop the authority from its functions,” said an senior official of the authority, adding, “Only the PSQCA has the mandate to certify Halal foods which is essential not only for all local produce but also imported items and the same is applied for all foods exported mainly to the Middle East.”

The PSQCA response to the ministry on its directive is expected next week.

Another challenge

The national standard body is facing another challenge as Sindh and Punjab provinces have refused to recognise the role of the federal body in setting the standards for consumer goods.

The 18th Amendment in the Constitution allows provinces to establish their own standards and its implementation.

The Punjab Food Authority has already said that its standards on food items would be implemented in the province and the Sindh Food Authority is also likely to announce a similar decision.

An official of the Ministry of Science and Technology said that it has been suggested that the provincial food authorities should implement the quality standards at over 100 selected food items based on international standards adopted by the PSQCA.

“The provinces may be allowed to enforce the PSQCA standards in their jurisdiction,” the officials added. “But Punjab is reluctant to accept this proposal as it also wants to set its standards for food items, and eventually the country could have six different food standards.”

The controversy will be taken up at the next meeting of Council of Common Interests (CCI) scheduled to be held on Tuesday (Dec 10) in Islamabad, which is expected to be attended by the chief ministers of four provinces, as well as relevant authorities from Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan.

Meanwhile, Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry said that the move has been initiated to streamline the testing and end corruption in the system.

“We want to strengthen the PSQCA as a regulator. Overhauling the system will help develop credibility of our labs,” the minister responded to a query and added that under the new system scientists or labs would not know details about the ownership of samples.

Published in Dawn, December 10th, 2019