Plan to boost consumer protection

A strategic plan to improve product testing and calibration capabilities for consumer protection by 2015 was made public yesterday.

Speaking at a review conference for the "Standards and Quality Assurance Project", head of the Directorate of Standards of Quality (Stameq) General Ngo Quy Viet said it had assisted with the revision, completion and implementation of the Metrology Standardisation Testing Quality (MSTQ) beginning with high-priority sectors.

Thanks to contributions from EU experts, Viet said the agency had promulgated and would begin to enforce the Law on Standards and Technical Regulations, the Law on Products and Goods Quality and other legal documents.

The draft of the Law on Metrology was now in the final stage and expected to be adopted soon, he said "Such important laws were developed in order to harmonise with international and EU requirements, and will be the foundation for Viet Nam's MSTQ activities," said Viet.

The project has helped the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development improve and upgrade the National Agro-forestry and Fisheries Quality Assurance Department (Nafiqad) and set up a reliable MSTQ system.

This project, part of the European Technical Assistance Programme for Viet Nam's second phase (ETV2), began on December 1, 2005 and will terminate on April 30 this year.

The beneficiaries of the project are Stameq, Nafiqad and the Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Trade.

The ETV2 programme is a technical assistance umbrella programme funded by the European Commission with more than 11 million euros (US$14 million). The programme aims to support the Vietnamese Government's main financial and economic institutions in the implementation of reform within the 2001-2010 socio-economic strategy plan framework, in line with the comprehensive growth and poverty reduction strategy.

VietNamNet, Viet Nam News

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