Financial Times

Scepticism rife over quality certificate accreditation
By Chaturi Dissanayake
More and more companies are seeking ISO standards and Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) certification but are these certifying companies qualified to provide such certification?

Not so, say many experts. Dr. Srilal de Silva, President of Sri Lanka Association for Quality who has been consistently raising this issue, said some of the companies in operation here don’t have proper accreditation to issue quality certification. Some certificates are given over the counter through commercial influences.

B. S. P. Mendis, Director of the Sri Lanka Accreditation Board for Conformity Assessment which came into operation last January, agreed, saying that while there are well conducted bodies working here there are others whose credibility is rather questionable because the proper approval has not been given.

He said a certifying body gets approval from a global accreditation agency for its operations but a country-by-country permit is also necessary. In this case, some of these organisations have approval overseas but not to provide certification in Sri Lanka.

In most of the developed world quality standards are stringent and exporters must comply with international standards such HACCP and the ISO 22000.
Dr. de Silva said none of the bodies operating in the country, both local and foreign has the accreditation for HACCP certification required for products exported to the European Union countries and most other developed countries.
Dr. A.R. L. Wijesekara, Chairman of the Sri Lanka Standards Institution (SLSI), responding to De Silva’s allegation that SLSI too is not accredited to issue HACCP certificates, said they are through the first stage of obtaining that accreditation by May.

“Not having the accreditation does not preclude SLSI from granting the HACCP certification for local companies. We are empowered to do that by the Sri Lanka Standards Institution. However other countries would prefer if we have the international accreditation. Still SLSI accreditation is valid as we are the only standards body in the country,” he said.

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