The Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) has published a new assessment report as part of the “Alliance for Product Quality in Africa”, a project funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). The report illustrates the current state of QI in Côte d’Ivoire. To this end, a comprehensive interview process was conducted and evaluated using the instrument “Ensuring Quality to Gain Access to Global Markets: A Reform Toolkit” was jointly developed by PTB and the World Bank.
This instrument is designed to analyse the current QI status of partner countries, with a special focus on a continuous demand-oriented development. This process facilitates the identification of individual challenges and the derivation of potential approaches for necessary support measures. In each country, the QI system needs to be developed constantly to meet the demands of industry, and it faces distinctive challenges. The project’s objective is to strengthen the national QI and to improve the private sector’s access to quality assurance services.
The Ivorian QI is well structured and comprises institutions that cover a range of fields, including standardization, accreditation, metrology, legal metrology, technical regulations, inspections, conformity assessment and product and system certification. Additionally, the legislative framework is establishing a foundation for an effective quality assurance system. However, there are ongoing challenges, including the need for the parliament to pass the national quality policy and for the legislative texts for the implementation of legal metrology to be validated.
At the operational level, public institutions would benefit from full autonomy from their relevant ministries and need to be further strengthened in terms of their technical competences. Moreover, the establishment of quality management systems and the accreditation of public bodies in the field of conformity assessment could be supported to ensure compliance with existing legislation.
It can thus be concluded that further developments are required in the field of metrology.
To view the English version of the assessment report, please click here:
https://www.ic.ptb.de/media/fileadmin/Publications/PTB_QI_Assessment_Report_Cote_d_Ivoire_EN.pdf
To view the French version, please click here:
https://www.ic.ptb.de/media/fileadmin/Publications/PTB_QI_Assessment_Report_Cote_d_Ivoire_FR.pdf
Image © PTB / iStock
