Standards Development Division
What Standards Development Division is all about?
The Division is established to implement the functions of NISIT as specified in Sections 5(a), 5(d), 5(g), and 5(ai) of the NISIT Act of 1993. To do this, several technical committees have been planned and earmarked to cover standards development work on various fields including Biology, Building, Construction, Electrical Appliances, Electronics & Renewable Energy, Food, Industrial Chemistry, Mechanical, Organic Chemistry, and Services. At the present time, standards development and verification work are active for the Building, Construction, Food, Electrical Appliance, and Mechanical fields. The committees are supported by a Standards Development Officer who provides all the secretariat functions.
The Standards Development Division is led by an Executive Manager, its Managers and Standards Development Officers. The Division the Standards Information Officer with the Corporate Services Division.
To date, there are approximately 89 PNG Standards of which more then 11% are home grown. The remainder are adoptions of Australian (AS), New Zealand (NZS), Joint Australian & New Zealand Standards (AS/NZS), International (Codex, IEC & ISO) and ASTM Standards.
WHAT IS A STANDARD?
A document approved by a recognized body, that provides, for common and repeated use, rules, guidelines or characteristics for products or related processes and production methods, with which compliance is not mandatory. It may also include or deal exclusively with terminology, symbols, packaging, marking or labeling requirements as they apply to a product, process or production method.
According to the World Trade Organization (WTO), Standards are technical barriers to trade (TBT). The other two being regulations and conformity assessment procedures. Therefore, according to the WTO-TBT definitions, a Standard becomes a Technical Regulation when compliance is made ‘mandatory’. However, there are other technical regulations that are not standards, for example, the European Union (EU) Directives or performance requirements in building codes. Even the ‘voluntary’ standards have an effect on trade, especially when used in contracts, so the WTO rules make good sense.
Standards Division Service Delivery Performance
Our commitment in providing Standards Development service translated in to numbers for the last 5 years: