3. Standards and Quality Assurance
Mandate
The mandate of the Department of Standards and Quality Assurance (DSQA) is to support the competitiveness of Lesotho’s products and services in the open market through the provision of quality, standardization and conformity assessment infrastructure with the objective of ensuring that technical requirements of the markets are met in the most efficient manner.
Objectives
- To establish and implement national standards
- To providing consultancy to organizations
- To make arrangements or provide metrology services and testing facilities for testing of locally manufactured products
- To make arrangements for company and personnel certification and also laboratory accreditation
- To provide information services related to standards and quality
Functions of the Department
- In standardization, the Department seeks to ensure that internationally acceptable standards are developed or adopted in Lesotho so as to facilitate trade and enhance the country’s economic integration.
- In quality assurance, the overall goal is to create/foster a culture of quality (delivery) in all sectors of the economy and to assist in the acquisition of necessary skills to ensure product and service quality in all organizations in Lesotho (to address attitude and aptitude issues). Quality is more than just the characteristics or performance of a product; it also encompasses delivery and cost effectiveness.
- By accreditation, the Department aims at supplying an institutional arrangement that will attest to the competence of testing, inspection and certification activities in Lesotho in support of entry into foreign markets.
- Through metrology, the Department plans to provide confidence in the correctness of measurement used in commerce as well as ensuring that measurements taken in enforcement of specific legislation are correct and just.