TRADE

INDUSTRY

MARKETING

1. To establish and effectively manage a viable programme on standardization, quality, accreditation and metrology;
2. To coordinate national efforts on quality and related activities;
3. To contribute to consumer protection through incorporation of safety and health concerns in products and services and to ensure fair measurement practices in business;
4. To enhance competitiveness of Lesotho’s goods and services through quality and productivity improvement;

Functions:

1. Serve as a national link with international partners on issues of standards, quality, accreditation and metrology;
2. Initiate formulation of relevant policy and legislation;
3. Provide services for quality and measurement conformity assessment;
4. Ensure appropriate participation and representation of Lesotho in international fora on standardization, quality, accreditation and metrology.

5.5.1 Standards and Quality Assurance Section

Objectives

1. To establish and effectively manage a National Standards Body (NSB) in order to institutionalize standards and quality management in the business sector;
2. To promote the adoption of quality management in the country’s business sector in order to enhance its competitiveness in the international, regional and domestic markets and to contribute to accelerated industrial and commercial growth;
3. To protect consumers against unsafe products and services;
4. To contribute to productivity improvement and customer satisfaction in the public and private enterprises;
5. To ensure compliance with safety, health and other requirements through monitoring and control of import and export commodities.

Functions

1. Participate and contribute to regional and global standardization and quality management programmes in order to enhance national efforts in achieving high levels of this performance attributes in the trade and industry sector;
    
2. Provide testing, calibration and verification services to the manufacturing and trade sectors in order to assist them to ascertain the quality of their products and imports;
    
3. Provide training, consultancy and information services on standards and quality management to public and private sector organisations;
    
4. Co-ordinate and facilitate the formulation of national standards;
    
5. Be the focal point for international and regional standardization and quality management programmes;
    
6. Support export promotion programmes by providing information on technical requirements of exports markets and by testing products and certifying their conformity to export markets specifications/requirements;
    
7. Safeguard the country against the dumping of inferior quality goods as well as unsafe and ecologically hazardous goods.

5.5.2 Standards Development Manual

Foreword
DSQA is a department under the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Cooperatives and Marketing and is recognised by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) as the focal point for Standardization, Quality Assurance, Metrology and Accreditation (SQAM) of Lesotho. The mandate of DSQA at its time of establishment is as follows:

Objectives

• To in an appropriate and timely manner draft, develop, amend and maintain Lesotho National Standards
• To adopt and, if considered necessary, adapt International Standards or Regional Standards which are relevant to the needs of Lesotho according to accepted international practices in preference to developing purely Lesotho National Standards.

Goals

• To facilitate the use of standards in industry through wide stakeholder involvement in all bodies addressing the development of standards, including strategic developments as well as in technical committees, thus ensuring overall acceptance of the standard.

5.5.3 Metrology Section

Objectives

1. To formulate the basic legislation and provide basic institutional arrangements required to make the national measurement (metrology) system viable;
    
2. To ensure that the relevant Weights and Measures Laws are adhered to at all times;
    
3. To protect consumers’ interests at market place by fostering fair trading practices;
    
4. To promote the metrology as a necessary support to standardization.

Functions

1. Provide verification and calibration services to trade, government and private industry;
    
2. Perform routine checks on quantities of pre-packaged goods at the point of sale as a means of ensuring fair trading practices and for consumer protection purposes;
    
3. Review and update metrology laws, bye-laws and regulations, where necessary, to ensure that the national measurement (metrology) system is operational;
    
4. Procure and maintain national standards of measurements of appropriate accuracy.
    
5. Ensure that the working standards are periodically calibrated against reference standards;
    
6. Provide calibration services, which are traceable to international standards;
    
7. Ensure proper co-ordination of activities and provide the necessary support activities such as metrology training and promotion of public awareness;
    
8. Provide services for the calibration of measuring instruments used in the industrial and other sectors of the economy, such as manufacturing and quality control of products, construction, mining, communication and environmental control.

5.5.4 Analytical Laboratory Services Section

Objectives

The principal objectives of the Analytical Laboratory Services Section, as described below, will seek to address the quality of results, their timeliness, and their cost-effectiveness. These are therefore stated as:

1. To produce reliable test results;
    
2. To produce analytical data of adequate accuracy and reliability within acceptable time and at an acceptable cost;
    
3. To establish that the right answer has been obtained – that is, ensuring that the results, which are good enough for the purpose for which it will be used, are obtained.

Functions

1. Conduct research and consultancies to assist manufacturing industries in product development and product improvement;
    
2. Provide testing services for industries, for product certification and for quality control purposes;
    
3. Perform routine analytical checks on import and export commodities to ascertain their quality level and to assess their compliance with the stipulated quality and legal requirements;
    
4. Conduct research to develop new test methods or to improve upon the existing analytical methods;
    
5. Participate in regional and international laboratories inter-comparison schemes, so as to assess the laboratories’ competence and to keep abreast of developments in analytical field.