The ASEAN Consultative Committee for Standards and Quality (ACCSO), was formed in October 1 992 with the objective of removing technical barriers to trade to facilitate the implementation of the Common Effective Preferential Tariff (CEPT) Agreement and to realize the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA). The ACCSQ is also actively promoting harmonisation in the areas of standards and conformance among member countries to expand intra and extra-ASEAN trade.

Under the ACCSO, three Technical Working Groups (TWGS) were formed in January 1994 with each responsible for a specific area of work. Technicai Working Group 2 (TWG2) on Conformity Assessment and Accreditation is chaired by Singapore and works towards achieving mutual recognition in the fields of product certification, quality and environmental management systems certification and accreditation in ASEAN.

Durin a TWG2 meetin held last year in Brunei, the working group agreed that to facilitate trade, it is important for the local industry to know of the product certification schemes in each ASEAN country. To achieve this, it was decided to hold a product certification seminar by rotation in all the ASEAN countries.

Distinguished speakers from the National Standards Bodies of the seven ASEAN countries would be invited to speak on the national product certification schemes of their country. The audience would also be informed of recent developments in ASEAN in the product certification area including plans for agency arrangements among the ASEAN countries and how this could benefit their companies.

The first seminar held in Bangkok in March 1996 by the Thai Industrial Standards Institute. This was followed by the second seminar held by the Singapore Productivity and Standards Board in Singapore in November 1996. The third seminar was organized by SIRIM, Malaysia in June 1997.

All the seminars were well received by the local industries and many questions were fielded during the question and answer sessions. The seminars gave companies that were facing difficulties in exporting their products to other ASEAN countries a first-held opportunity to consult the experts themselves.

Yong Kin Meng
PSB, Singapore