Strengthening the Compliance of the OIC Member States
to International Standards
10
assess whether or not a given product complies with a particular standard (conformity assessment).
Those laboratories need to be accredited by a competent agency, which certifies that they comply with
the relevant standards governing conformity assessment. Conforming products are often entitled to
certification, or application of a mark to their goods, so that consumers can easily distinguish
conforming and non-conforming goods. Finally, there needs to be a metrology organization to ensure
that measurement is conducted using appropriate instruments, and is performed to an acceptable level
of accuracy. Figure 2 presents one overview of the way in which these organizations can work together
with a national standards body—which issues standards—to ensure high quality production.
Figure 2: An example of a national quality system
Source: Sanetra and Marban (2007).