The National Standards Council (NSC) has affirmed the government’s commitment towards consumer protection and safety through the establishment of the right standardisation infrastructure.
NSC chairman Anthony M. Munyiri, who was officially opening the 45th International Organisation for Standards (ISO) Committee on Consumer Policy (ISO/COPOLCO) Plenary meeting in Nairobi, said standards have assumed grave importance in the wake of challenges consumers face today.
The chairman, whose council oversees the policy direction of the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS), said standards provide a foundation of safety and reliability.
“Standards are vital in building consumer confidence while enabling emerging technologies to flourish,” he stated.
He assured the plenary that the Kenya government has prioritised standardisation not only as a key driver for industrial growth as set out in the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda, but also as an important component in ensuring consumers are protected from harmful products and practices.
Munyiri said Kenya had put in place the right regulatory framework to guarantee consumer protection through the Consumer Protection Act 2012 (No. 46 of 2012).
He noted that the Act prohibits unfair trade practices and false and misleading advertisements while setting out rights and obligations respecting specific consumer agreements.
The chairman who was accompanied by the ISO/COPOLCO Acting Chair Eunsook Moon, said it was crucial however that even as the regulatory framework was strengthened, the importance of standards as a solution to consumer protection is prioritised.
“Standards play a very important role in consumer protection by ensuring quality, safety and reliability of products and services. It is through standards that we’re able to establish benchmarks for product quality and safety, and where recourse can be obtained in the event of harm caused by products that fail to meet applicable standards,” he observed.
Moon observed that consumers made up 70 per cent of all global spending and hence cannot be ignored whenever important decisions relating to consumption and trade are concerned.
Munyiri noted that KEBS, as the national standards body, has a mandate to implement and enforce standards pivotal for quality, safety and efficiency.
KEBS is also responsible for issuing quality certification marks like the S-Mark to indicate that a product meets quality standards as a way of helping consumers identify safe and reliable products.
KEBS Managing Director Esther Ngari, in a speech read on her behalf by the organisation’s Director for Quality Assurance and Inspection Geoffrey Muriira, said KEBS plays an important role in providing standardisation, metrology and conformity assessment solutions for sustainable development in the country.
The three-day meeting hosted by KEBS is being attended physically by participants from 36 countries who are members of ISO and seeks to explore how standards can support sustainable trade alternatives and the role standards can play in promoting the circular economy.
