Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority (PSQCA) will establish 'Consumer Liaison Offices' in different parts of the country for developing consumer associations to keep vigilance against production of substandard goods.
Director General, PSQCA, Abdul Ghaffar Soomro, addressing a meeting of manufacturers here at Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) on Wednesday said that members of consumer associations would be trained to check the quality and standard of the locally manufactured goods and they would be supported by European Union in keeping vigilance over the goods.
H said that consumers associations would be strengthened to enable them even moving courts against manufacturers of substandard goods. In the next 6 to 12 months the consumers associations would be in a position to identity standard and substandard goods and keep vigilance on them, he added.
He said that the Authority has been mandated to test quality of 46 items through regular procedure to ensure provision of quality goods to consumers.
"Its purpose is to create sense of responsibility among manufacturers. Whenever there arises the requirement of consumers, an official list is made available," he added.
The Director General said that the government wants to exercise control over a maximum number of goods.
Soomro said that approval for setting up office here has already been given. "The proposed office would be established in Industrial Estate Hayatabad at a cost of Rs 30 million, to be followed by a laboratory," he added. For provision of testing facility and avoiding sending samples to Lahore, he said, the laboratory of Qarshi in Hattar Industrial Estate, Haripur, has been allowed to conduct tests.
He said that with the advent of World Trade Organisation (WTO) regime, export process is becoming difficult. "For this we are required to learn the rules and be prepared to follow." He said that government would give importance to private sector laboratories. However, they should be accredited, that also for particular kind of testing. In this connection, the government is also considering measures for the regulation of private sector laboratories, he added.
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