Standards help promote the trade and business, was one of the key messages, to Bhutanese industry and business community participating at the World Standards Day, today. October 14 is identified to create awareness on the need for standards and standardisation.
The day in the country is promoted by Bhutan Standards Bureau, a national standards body, especially in the light of growing interest on how Bhutanese economy is opening its door to rest of the world.
However, Bhutan Standards Bureau says, standards and standardisation are fairly a new concept and challenging, especially when there is a general lack of awareness on quality; and less incentive that it has to offer.
The Director General of Bhutan Standards Bureau, Phuntsho Wangdi, said the basic premise of standard is to bottom line the quality. “We talk too much about quality but what we do not understand is, quality is underlined by standards. Therefore, standard and standardisation activities are crucial for driving the quality.”
An expert with the World Trade Organization technical group, Prem Malhotra, says private sectors have an important role in standard and standardization process.
“Standard is a common thing that we use in daily life, but standardisation is just voluntary. But it is good for private sector to start with that. You just do things that interest parties can have benefits or serve the market needs or serve the economic environment protection”
By having a standard not only helps reduces unnecessary waste of resources. But it also improves efficiency in businesses and addresses the issue of sustainability in this competitive economic era.
Globally, the theme this year is celebrated on “Less waste, better results – Standards increase efficiency”.
