Georgetown: During 2017, the Guyana National Bureau of Standards (GNBS) continued to develop and revise standards for various products and services, and also provided technical assistance to companies seeking to become International Organization for Standardization (ISO) certified. As of the end of September 2017, twenty-one companies received assistance in achieving ISO certification.
Last month, Minister of Business, Dominic Gaskin during his 2018 Budget presentation in Parliament, noted that the Bureau assisted yet another laboratory in attaining ISO accreditation, increasing the number of accredited laboratories now operating in Guyana to three.
The Business Minister also highlighted that over 740 businesses were provided with technical assistance, training, and product certification in 2017 by the GNBS. He stated that training was conducted in the areas of management standards, root cause analysis, process mapping, food safety management systems, good laboratory practices and safety management training, among others.
$182 million has been allocated to the work of the GNBS project in 2018. Minister Gaskin noted this allocation is expected to support local producers with enhanced testing capacity of the GNBS and other laboratories, thereby reducing the need for samples to be sent overseas for testing and consequent delays in businesses getting products certified.
Minister Gaskin said that the Bureau is also working on a National Building Code to raise standards in the local construction industry. Based on the recommendation of the Guyana Association of Professional Engineers (GAPE), the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States’ (OECS) Building Code was adopted by the National Standards Council in Guyana in August 2017. The implementation of a building code in Guyana will improve the standard and quality of works carried out, both in the public and private sectors to raise the levels of safety in the industry.
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