C ONFORMITY A SSESSMENT I NFRASTRUCTURE IN N EPAL Mr Shambhu Jha Electrical Engineer Nepal Bureau of Standards and MetrologyNepal Bureau of Standards and Metrology, Nepal Bureau of Standards and Metrology Nepal republic of Mr Shambhu Jha Electrical Engineer Nepal Bureau of Standards and MetrologyNepal Bureau of Standards and Metrology, Nepal Bureau of Standards and Metrology Nepal republic of

N EPAL A multi-cultural, multi-linguistic, multi- religious democratic republic country. Area:147,181 km 2 Population 29.5 million estimated (July 2008) Per capita Income 900 US $ Literacy: 69% Religion: Hindu(80.6%), Buddhist (10.7%), Muslim(4.2%), Kirant(3.6%) and others(0.9%)

L EGAL F RAME W ORK FOR CA IN N EPAL The functions of NBSM ( Nepal Bureau of Standards and Metrology) is guided by two acts- Nepal Standards (certification mark) Act 1980 Standards Weights and Measures Act 1969 Nepal Standards Act is in the process of revision A new bill – Accreditation Act is also in the draft stage Nepal Electricity act Nepal telecom act

F UNCTIONS OF NBSM Formulation of national standards Provides services to NCS, Nepal Council for Standards Inspection Certification Testing and calibration services Training and Trade facilitation Coordinates for Laboratory Accreditation

S TANDARDS F ORMULATION NBSM carries out the tasks like formulation, cancellation and review of standards and presents it to NCS for approval. There are 900 Nepal standards developed so far. More than 80% of Nepal Standards are harmonized with international standards. We are in the process of adopting code of good practice of TBT Agreement.

P RODUCT C ERTIFICATION NBSM offers product certification services to Nepalese industries 140 industries ( no of licenses 200 ) have been granted licenses to use NS-mark in 59 products We are in the process to implement ISO Guide 65 for international recognition

S YSTEM C ERTIFICATION NBSM has just started system certification services. The system has been accreditated from NABCB, India More than 300 organizations in Nepal are certified in different management systems (QMS, EMS, FSMS) by foreign certification bodies, mostly from India

I NSPECTION NBSM carries out inspection for the purpose of technical regulation fulfillment (mandatory Products), To verify the requirements of contractual agreement (Lot certification) monitoring of product in the market and Against the consumer complaints Pre-shipment inspection Post surveillance of NS certified products

A CCREDITATION No organization in Nepal for providing accreditations NBSM involved in private laboratory accreditation under the NEPLAS (Nepal Laboratory Accreditation Scheme)program NEPLAS international y not recognition A great need for establishing an umbrella organization in the country for providing accreditation felt At present, we are going to establish a national accreditation focal point Nepal Accreditation Act yet to be approved from parliament

M ETROLOGY Legal Metrology Industrial Metrology – mass, temperature, Pressure Scientific Metrology

P ROBLEMS Weak coordination and cooperation among different institutions Non recognition of certification & testing Lack of testing and calibration facilities Cost of conformity assessment- high Industries- loosing export market Regulator- Insufficient mechanism to ensure public safety ( electrical products) Dependence on test certificate for interoperatability