BEAB - making global markets a reality
When asked what they require from testing and certification organisations, most manufacturers, or their representative associations, will express a desire for one standard, one test and one Internationally recognised mark which offers the scope to place their product within the global market place.
Not only would this encourage healthy competition within the International testing and certification community, but manufacturers would achieve long term cost and marketing benefits from a faster factory to market process, and consumers world-wide would benefit from the uniformity of quality standards across the manufacturing spectrum.
The operation of European certification schemes, involving twenty or more countries, has shown that much time and effort is required to build the co-operation and mutual confidence necessary for such schemes to operate successfully. These issues are even more difficult to manage in the global context in which the CB Scheme operates. But new quality system standards, more rigorously interpreted by national accreditation bodies, combined with more robust Peer Group Assessment is encouraging technical harmony and consistency in the application of standards and quality on an International scale. National differences have been successfully addressed and product development positively assisted. Barriers to trade may continue if a major trading nation chooses to adopt a dual policy of co-operating with global standardisation, whilst protecting its own national requirements, but the IEC is working hard to overcome such obstacles.
There is also a growing awareness, with modern methods of communication, that the world is shrinking, and that certification can no longer be regarded solely in regional terms but must have an International dimension. The CB Scheme as it exists today, covering the recognition of test reports, is an excellent platform from which to build a Full Certification Scheme, through which manufacturers can obtain a variety of national marks. The development of a single Internationally recognised mark is one step further still, and will require the levels of mutual confidence to be embraced more extensively.
As an NCB in the CB Scheme and its predecessor since 1977, BEAB benefits from being able to provide manufacturers with a springboard to a range of international safety marks. In addition, BEAB has specific European agreements to speed up the process of obtaining marks in North America and Asia.
Mike Vint, Managing Director
BEAB
Further information about BEAB’s services is available at www.beab.co.uk
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