September 1, 2004

Islamabad: Consumer Rights Commission of Pakistan (CRCP) has expressed serious concerns over non-implementation of the National Quality Policy of Pakistan and demanded its implementation without further delay. It said that the policy level negligence towards quality and standards has jeopardized the consumer safety in the country on one hand and, is causing huge losses to the national economy on the other hand. Pakistan’s economy suffers an estimated loss of Rs.622 billion annually due to absence of quality control and standards in different sectors.

Mr. Abrar Hafeez, Secretary General CRCP, said that Pakistan terribly lagged behind in enforcement and promotion of quality standards for consumer items. As a result, consumers are extremely vulnerable to health hazards involved in the usage and disposal of poor quality goods and services. A National Quality Policy was formulated a couple of years ago, but its fate has yet to be decided. Moreover, the concerned institutions have not been strengthened enough to contribute their due role in promotion of quality standards. The Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority (PSQCA), the apex body for formulation, adoption and enforcement of standards, has registered 48,000 standards, most of which have been adopted from ISO. However, the Authority lacks the capacity to enforce them. Similarly, the Pakistan National Accreditation Council (PNAC) has been able to accredit only 6 laboratories so far. Though it is a remarkable achievement but much more needs to be done.

Commenting on the loss due to poor quality control systems, Mr. Abrar Hafeez said that, according to a study by the Planning Commission of Pakistan, an annual loss of Rs.662 billion occurs on different account, which was a huge drawback for the economy of Pakistan. If products and services do not meet the standards for consumer safety, the loss would further increase due to increased expenditure on health. The government must place quality standards high on its agenda. Being an agricultural country, the sanitary and phyto-sanitary standards (SPS) agreement is of special interest to Pakistan. In order to protect the domestic consumers and make our exports competitive in the international market, there is a need for efficient quality control systems in different sectors, which can be achieved by strengthening and upgrading the concerned institutions and implementation of the National Quality Policy.

CRCP demanded that the government should immediately implement the National Quality of Pakistan and take appropriate steps for strengthening relevant institutions such as the PSQCA and PNAC.