Strengthening the Compliance of the OIC Member States
to International Standards
25
3 INSTITUTIONS SUPPORTING INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS AND MUTUAL
RECOGNITION OF TESTS AND CONFORMITY ASSESSMENT RESULTS IN OIC
MEMBER STATES
This section discusses the institutions that support international standards harmonization and mutual
recognition of conformity assessment in OIC member states. The first subsection provides an overview
of the issues on a conceptual level, along with some typical solutions to the various problems
encountered. The last two subsections discuss the current state of play in OIC member states, drawing
on answers to questions received as part of this project, and an analysis of regional initiatives involving
OIC member states.
3.1 Overview of Issues
As noted in Section 2, standardization is not an issue that can nowadays be considered in isolation from
the broader question of national quality infrastructure. There are strong economic and competitiveness
rationales for countries to develop that infrastructure, including in collaborative ways with regional
partners for small countries, as a way of defraying the major expenses involved. Of course, development
of a national quality infrastructure is not just a question of financial resources, but also involves human
and technical capacity that is lacking in many developing countries, including OIC member states. The
agenda for building national standards and quality capacity is a broad one, covering institutions and
agencies, rules and regulations, and links with global and regional institutions and rules.
Supporting international standards can take a variety of forms, depending on the pre-existing
institutional and regulatory structures of a country, as well as its technical, financial, and human
capacity. For high capacity countries with a relatively strong history of standardization—Turkey is an
example in the OIC—the issue is harmonization of national standards with international ones. This
process involves a change in regulatory stance. It is also typically accompanied by a movement away
from mandatory standards towards voluntary ones in most areas, except core issues of consumer safety,
health, and environmental protection. In some countries, such as Egypt (examined in a case study,
below) that shift can be challenging as it does not fit with the traditional approach to rule making. There
is therefore a learning process that has to be undertaken. Leadership from senior levels of government
will be important to provide an impetus to international harmonization in high capacity countries, as
well as to manage the political economy issues that arise. For example, no government wants to be seen
as relaxing its standards to meet with foreign demands. It is important for leaders to recognize that in
many cases, standards are simply different, not stronger or weaker, so it is a question of weighing up the