ECOWAS Commission inches nearer to establishing a Regional Product Certification Scheme

From 26th to 27th July 2018, the ECOWAS Commission brought together the critical stakeholders for a two (02) day meeting of its Community Committee for Conformity Assessment (ECOCONF). The main objective of the meeting is to adopt the draft documents for the establishment of the ECOWAS Regional Product Certification Scheme (ECOMark). This meeting takes place within the framework of the West Africa Quality System Programme (WAQSP) implemented by UNIDO with funding from the European Union to the tune of 12 000 000 Euros which has been under implementation since 2014.

The ECOWAS Commissioner of Private Sector Mr. Traore stated during the meeting that "this regional meeting is organized as part of the implementation of two main Regulations adopted by the ECOWAS Council Ministers in December 2013 in Abuja and in June 2017 in Monrovia, respectively implementing the Scheme; the quality infrastructure of ECOWAS; and the organization and functioning of the Community Committee for Conformity Assessment of ECOWAS".

The EU Ambassador, Ketil Karlsen represented by Ms. Nadia Cannata noted that "with the series of standards developed by ECOWAS and the growing number of manufacturing enterprises in the region, time has come to ensure that unsafe or otherwise non-compliant products do not find their way to ECOWAS market and indeed export from West Africa". She further noted that the region is not there yet but commended ECOWAS and UNIDO for the progress made so far in ensuring consumers confidence, public authorities and manufacturers regarding the conformity of products in West Africa.

UNIDO representative highlighted the progress so far made and assured that "This is an opportunity to encourage all other organizations in the Member states that are currently making significant efforts to upgrade their national product certification body".

Mr. Francis Alaneme representing the Nigerian Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Okechukwu Enelamah,  made reference to the value of the program to be implemented. “This regional system of product accreditation through the ECOWAS Standards Conformity Mark is one of the tools that will serve as a benchmark for consumers to identify products that meets the quality standards of the region… the conformity assessment is to be globally competitive and enhance the trade of ECOWAS regions”, he said.

In a closing remark, the representative of Nigeria, Ms. Oshioneh Braimah (from the Standard Organization of Nigeria - SON) commended the efforts of the meeting attendees for the seamless and fruitful deliberation through the two days the program was held. She also added that “this is the beginning of so much work for West Africa to do in ensuring that only quality products and services come out of this region”

The Quality Manager of SGS-Ghana, Ms. Helen Doe-Ashinyo Sarbah (representative of Ghana) pointed out that “it is important that we get to a stage where for the ECOWAS community, we will be able to harmonize our quality issues and at the same time, prepare our systems and products towards the mark of excellence”.

As mentioned above, the ECOWAS Mark of Conformity is correlated with the availability of a set of associated services. Along with the other financial and technical partners, including the European Union, UNIDO has supported the ECOWAS Commission to gradually put in place this framework, which is starting to work.

The meeting was attended by the representatives of ECOWAS member States and private sector organizations, including members of ECOCONF and the media.