Caricom Regional Organisation For Standards And Quality

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

INTRODUCTION

Increasing importanced is place on the level and quality of products and services across the Caibbean region. This is partly due to the need to compete globally, but for the most part, it is due to the need by regional consumers to have value for money. The instituting of standards internationally has enforced the need for the region to come on board and facilitate the creation of standards that are regionally and internationally accepted, recognised and operationalized.

The need for structure and common best practices for CARICOM businesses and organisation was clear; locally, regionally and internationally, products and services had to conform to accepted best practices. The liberalisation of markets and the call from the World Trade Organisation meant that barriers to trade had to be removed. This in turn, meant for regional business entities that a new way of doing business was necessary. CARICOM in fulfilling its mandate, through the Council for Trade & Economic Development, established the CARICOM Organisation for Standards & Quality (CROSQ), in 2002.

The mission of CROSQ, as outlined in the booklet, CROSQ: From Standards Development to Regional Quality Infrastructure puts it better, "The promotion and development of standards and standards-related activities to facilitate international competitveness and sustainable production of goods and services within the CARICOM Singel Markert and Economy for the enhancement of social and economic development." (CROSQ, n.d) The function of CROSQ, which is outlined in greater detail in the body of this work, seeks to ensure that CARICOM, in part, is working toward a sustainable culture of quality.

This practicum report therefore aims to make critical linkages between the theoretical and practical aspects of integration within the region and the use of standards as a practical way forward for deeper integration in the Caribbean. It is also the aim of the researcher to make recommendations that may assist in the alleviation of some of the challenges arising from the attempt to take integration forward through standards development.

SCOPE

This report is based on the practicum experiences of this researcher. Interviews conducted with persons at CROSQ, informal questionnaires conducted on various social medium and actual immersions into some of the day to day functions at CROSQ have been included to produce this report.

More on CARICOM Regional Organisation for Standards & Quality (CROSQ)

The CARICOM Regional Organisation for Standards and Quality, CROSQ, is a regional body established out of Article 67 of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas. It was provisionally instituted in Belize in February of 2002 by 8 member states; and was officially launched in St. Vincent in April 2002. Currently, all CARICOM Member States are part of CROSQ.

CROSQ is made up of the Council, which consists of the Directors/Executives Directors or representatives of the National Standards Bodies (NSBs) of the representative Member States; the Special Committees which consist of stakeholders from private and public sector entities and the Secretariat. CROSQ reports to the CARICOM Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) for organisation-related business and standards approval.

Three Committees assist with the technical agenda of the CROSQ Council:

The Technical Management Committee (TMC), which was appointed in 2005 to assist with the development and harmonization of regional standards. Comprising of technical experts from among the NSBs. Sector-specific Regional Technical Committees (RTCs), comprising relevant stakeholders and experts, develop and review the standards. The Editorial Committee has the responsibility for the final editing and formatting of the standards.

CARIMET, the Caribbean arm of the Sistema Interamerican Metrologia (SIM), is made up of representatives of the National Metrology Institutes (NMIs) of the English-speaking Caribbean, including Belize, Guyana and Suriname. It has been in existence since the mid-1990s, and in April 2008, it was formally invited to participate within CROSQ as a special committee, with particular responsibility for the development and coordination of Metrology in the region.

The Regional Information Network (RIN) Committee is made up of representatives from each of the National Standards Bodies in the areas of information technology, information management, marketing and communications, and WTO/TBT enquiry points and CODEX nodes. The RIN Committee was established to assist in the development of information and communication technologies (ICT) within CROSQ.

Three administrative committees are appointed from among the Council members to facilitate the work of the Council in the management of the Secretariat. These are the Assessment Committee; the Finance Committee; and the Human Resource Committee.

The CROSQ Council appoints a Chief Executive Officer (formerly Executive Secretary) to inter alia:

manage the daily activities of the Secretariat and conduct general business activities on behalf of CROSQ;

interface with the Council Members and COTED;

manage relations with the donor agencies in the Region; and

manage relations within CARICOM and with the various organs of CARICOM in relation to the objectives of CROSQ.

The Secretariat's core staff falls under technical operations, and finance and administration operations. In addition, the project manager(s)/coordinator(s) and other Project Management Unit (PMU) support staff are hired on time-bound contracts to implement funded projects.

CROSQ was established to treat to the need to formulate policy and harmonise existing ones to ensure CARICOM’s viability on the world market. CROSQ is the regional centre for promoting efficiency and competitive production in goods and services, through the processes of standardization and the verification of quality. It is the successor to the Caribbean Common Market Standards Council (CCMSC), and supports the CARICOM mandate in the expansion of intra-regional and extra-regional trade in goods and services. CROSQ is mandated to represent the interest of the region in international hemispheric standards work, to promote the harmonization of metrology systems and standards, and to increase the pace of development of regional standards for the sustainable production of goods and services in the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME), and the enhancement of social and economic development.

Standards

With specific reference to the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas, a standard is defined as:

"standard" means a guideline approved by a recognised body that provides, for common and repeated use, rules, guidelines or characteristics for products or related processes and production methods, with which compliance is not mandatory. The term may also include or deal exclusively with terminology, symbols, packaging, marking or labelling requirements as they apply to a product, process or production method.

Standards are therefore drawn from scientific research, technology and knowhow. These compiled should provide optimal community benefits. Standards are developed around five key principles; openness, transparency, impartiality, stakeholder driven and consensus based, almost similar to democracy. CROSQ’s booklet notes that there are different types of standards, with the most common types being, testing, product, process, service and management systems standards. These standards benefit all at various levels. Businesses can gain market access through processes of production that meet international production standard specifications. It can also mean increased local and regional consumers.

Consumers gain because not only will they be getting products that are produced at high standards but also value for money. Consumers, based on standards requirements, can assure themselves of products that are produce in safe environments, they are reliable and the level of consistency is mandated through the standard applied.

Governments have the scientific and technological basis for health, safety and environmental legislation. There is no need for continued knowledge imports for governments to spend necessary funds on to develop healthy and safety regulations. Based on the CARICOM standards, data can be extrapolated and compiled into legislative frame for which businesses must conform.

In the context of the Caribbean, where countries are classified as developing, standards provide a context for international best practices, making the economies more viable through trade facilitation. Also products and services that conform to standard processes are a general benefit to everyone.

Standard are developed through several stages at CROSQ. The CROSQ booklet notes that there is a focus on concept of consensus-building within all Member States. The first stage is preliminary stage. At this level, individuals or organisations, through their National Standards Bodies, (NSBs) submit a standard for consideration. The proposed standard is then circulated to all CROSQ Member States for evaluation and voting. This is known as the Proposal Stage. The Committee stage, which follows, is where the technical committees provide comments, which are considered in an effort to reach a consensus on the procedural content of the standard.

The next stage is the enquiry stage. This is the stage where the draft is circulated for comments from the stakeholders within the various member states. Once everything is agreed on, the standard is finalized and sent to the NSBs for voting. It is then forwarded to COTED for adoption. This is known as the approval stage. The standard is then published, after reviewing, and distributed to various member states. The standard is review periodically every three to five years to ensure its relevance. If revisions are to be made, the standard goes back through the process from the first stage.

Conformity Assessment

Products are checked to see if they conform to the particular standard under which they are supposed to have been produced, this is known as conformity assessment. The Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas notes that ""conformity assessment procedures" includes any procedure used, directly or indirectly, to determine that relevant requirements in technical regulations or standards are fulfilled." (CARICOM Secretariat, 2001)

The CROSQ booklet notes, that conformity assessment can include testing or calibration of a product or service, inspection of the manufacturing process of a product, certification to a management system and accreditation of a product certification body. Conformity assessment basically seeks to ensure that products or service at every step, are designed to the highest and best practices. The assessment can be carried out by private or governmental organisations which are accredited for such.

Conformity assessment allows the manufacture or service provider the comfort of knowing that their product or service is reliable, and meet the required criteria, suppliers also know that the products they supply are reliable as well. For consumers, they also can trust the reliability of the production process, but also that they are getting value for money. Regulators can ensure that health, safety and environmental requirements are met. Conformity assessors seek to ensure that not only consumers get the best product, but that the impact on the environment is negated as much as possible. International markets have but pushing the concept of environmentally safe practices and this can act as a barrier to markets if products are not produced in an environmentally safe way and the end product, when used has limited negative impact as well.

Metrology

Metrology, not to be confused with meteorology, as noted in the CROSQ booklet, is the science of measurement and is divided into three fields; scientific or fundamental metrology, applied or industrial metrology and legal metrology.

Scientific metrology looks at the organisation and development of measurement standards and their maintenance. It indicates the highest level of accuracy within the given area, example, mass, volume, temperature, etc, and is supported by legal and industrial metrology.

Industrial Metrology deals with the application of measurement science to manufacturing and other processes and their use in society, ensuring the suitability of measurement instruments, their calibration and quality control of measurements. For instance, when a consumer from Belize buys one pound of sugar in Belize, then travels to another CARICOM member state country and makes the same purchase, that consumer should have no worries that a pound in Belize is the same weight as a pound in another CARICOM member state.

Legal Metrology is concerned with regulatory requirements of measurements and measuring instruments for the protection of health, public safety, the environment and consumer, for enabling taxation and for fair trade.

Metrology often not thought of, but is very important to our day to day lives. Do you consider that medication of not measured correctly can kill you? Do you consider that a scale that is suppose to indicate a pound when weighing your vegetables, if not calibrated correctly could result in you paying for less of that product? Consider shipments and their weight, it could mean you pay more if it is not measured correctly. Businesses could lose revenue as a result of incorrect measurements. Metrology therefore an integral role in setting standards.

Included in metrology are traceability and calibration. Traceability refers to an unbroken chain of comparisons relating an instrument's measurements to a known standard. So in the case of a supermarket using a scale to measure vegetables, the scale is calibrated according to standard measurements from an accredited source certified to carry out the testing. Calibration is the determining by comparison with a standard the graduations of a quantitative measuring instrument. The instrument is made to conform to a know standard of measurement, so that anywhere in the world a pound, is a pound.

Accreditation

The CROSQ booklet posits accreditation as a procedure through which an authoritative body provides formal recognition that a body or a person is competent to carry out specific tasks. Currently, there are two international standards used to accredit persons or organisations. These international standards are the ISO/IEC 17025, General requirements for the competence of Testing and Calibration Laboratories and ISO 15189, Medical Laboratories – Particular Requirements for Quality and Competence. The International Organisation for Standards defines accreditation as "a conformity assessment technique specifically related to the assessment of the conformity of conformity assessment bodies by a third party body, generally known as an accreditation body." (pp. 40)

ISO further points out that accreditation bodies need to be independent and unbiased and for this reason are often established as national or regional entities that in practice need to demonstrate the existence of mutual recognition arrangements by means of membership of relevant international bodies that engage in peer reviews of each other.

Accreditation bodies seek to ensure that all factors such as the technical competency of the staff; the validity and appropriateness of test methods; traceability of measurements and calibration to national standards, sustainability, calibration and maintenance of test equipment; testing equipment; sampling, handling and transportation of test items and quality assurance of test and calibration data; are accurate and reliable.

Accreditation provides assurances to trading partners that an exporting country is competent to test or certify to the trading partners requirements, which can eliminate trade barriers thus, complying with the World Trade Organisation. Accreditation can also redound in benefits to the consumers and manufacturers. The consumer has the added benefit in assurance of the processes involved in the manufacturing process have been verified at the highest level. The manufacturer benefits because the possibility of market access increases as production processes are verified at the highest level.

There are two accreditation bodies within CARICOM, Jamaica National Agency for Accreditation, (JANAAC) and the Trinidad and Tobago Laboratory Accreditation Service (TTLABS). These bodies are to herald a new dawn as it were for standards development in the region. The Jamaica National Agency for Accreditation (JANAAC) is an agency of the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce in Jamaica, incorporated in March 2007, to provide accreditation services to Conformity Assessment Bodies, (CABs) such as Laboratories, Certification and Inspection Bodies. The Trinidad and Tobago Laboratory Accreditation Service (TTLABS) operates as the sole national laboratory accrediting body for testing and calibration laboratories and is a fully owned government organization fulfilling its mandate under the authority of the Standards Act No. 18 of 1997 of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. The CARICOM Regional Organisation for Standards and Quality (CROSQ) is an Inter-Governmental Organisation among the fifteen Member States of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and is the regional centre for promoting efficiency and competitive production in goods and services, through the process of standardization and the verification of quality.

Certification

Certification is different to accreditation. Certification is a confirmation of conformance of a product, service or system to established standards or requirements; whereas accreditation establishes, for instance, the competence of a laboratory including requirements for laboratory personnel and operations. Two fundamental objectives of product certification are to assist customers and end users to make better informed decisions about products in the marketplace and to assist suppliers of the products to achieve marketplace acceptance. This provides confidence to customers.

METHODOLOGY

This section of the report highlights the tools that were used in collecting the data for this paper. The linkages between theoretical and practical aspects of integration will be proposed along with a literature review that will advance the views of the various writers on the subject matter.

The day to day functions of the organisation have been analyse in order to develop a deeper understanding of the process of integration within standards development. Information was accumulated from several books, lectures, journals, the internet, interviews and informal questionnaires conducted on various social media. Books, journals and the internet were utilized to achieve an ample perspective and interviews were carried out with key persons in the organisation. One of the benefits of working at CROSQ was to ability to speak with persons who originate from various countries within the Member States.

W Lawrence Neuman in his book Social Research Methods: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches, indicated that "face to face interviews have the highest response rate and permit the longest questionnaires." (Neuman, 2003. pp. 290) Neuman went on to say that "well-trained interviewers can ask all types of questions, can ask complex questions, and can use extensive probes." To this end, based on the literature that was read prior to the interviews, the intern was not bound to the script and was able to engage the interviewees in meaningful discussions on the topic of regional security and the integration process.

The discussion led to a deeper understanding of the structure of the CROSQ organisation. Neuman commented on the subject of social relationships but stating the survey interview is a social relationship and involves social roles, norms, and expectations. Furthermore, Neuman indicated that the interview is a short-term, secondary social interaction between two strangers with the explicit purpose of one person’s obtaining specific information from the other. Neuman further suggested that "the social roles are those of the interviewer and the interviewee or respondent. Neuman went on to suggest "information is obtained in a structured conversation in which the interviewer asks prearranged questions and records the respondent answers." (Neuman, 2003, pp 292)

LIMITATIONS

Every effort has been made by the researcher to acquire information on the CARICOM Regional Organisation for Standards & Quality (CROSQ), but there is very limited literature available. One resource that provided the bulk of information on the organisation was the CROSQ booklet, which is heavily referred to within the body of this report. The other challenge present was the time frame in which the researcher was in the organisation. It would have been useful to have been able to prolong the exercise by an additional four to six weeks.

Despite the limitations that were encountered, this study is still relevant and applicable to the topic at hand. Integration is not going away. It is imperative that Caribbean seek to deepen and widen on their own terms rather than having them imposed on them. Is this possible in the face of heavy economic reliance on donor funding for almost every step of the integration process? It has often been said that he who pays the piper calls the tune. Thus far integration has been an outward construct imposed on the Caribbean’s spatial reality.

LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL LINKAGES

For standards to be developed and implemented there must be consensus. That is, agreement on the proposed standard. If one state objects to any part of the standard, it is sent back to the first stage. This process is time consuming and delays an already lengthy process as it could take up to two years for standards to be developed and accepted and this is without objections. As outlined in the Revised Treaty in Article 28, voting is either all or three-quarters of the membership of the Conference and in Article 29 voting in the Community Council or the Ministerial Council, is on the basis of a qualified majority. Voting is a very crucial factor in the area of standards, even if the standard leaves CROSQ and goes to COTED, it could be rejected. In speaking to Mr. Fulgence St. Prix, the Technical Officer for Standards at CROSQ, noted in an interview with the researcher that simple processes are hindered and made time consuming because of personalities. Mr. St. Prix also noted that there were in existence issues of enforcement of standards throughout the CARICOM region.

Wendy Grenade notes in her paper, Subregionalism and Regionalism in the Caribbean: challenges and Prospects – Any Insights from the European Union that "the core of the problem lies in the lack of vision and the insistence on integovernmentalism." (Grenade, 2011) At its core, functional cooperation and intergovenmentalism approach to integration has not netted the success that could be had if structures has a more supranational approach in their construct. Neil Nugent in his book The Government and Politics of the European Union notes that;

"intergovernmentalism refers to arrangements whereby nation states, in situations and conditions they can control, cooperate with one another on matters of common interest. The existence of control, which allows all participating states to decide the extent and nature of this cooperation, means that national sovereignty is not directly undermined." (Nugent, 2010; pp: 558)

The idea that states will cooperate willingly and not engage in a series of power plays is a whimsical utopian notion. This is clearly seen in the reactions in the European Union who have a deeper integrated structure than CARICOM. States cooperate when the benefits can be clearly seen and are immediate. In times of crisis, it is evident that the old every man for himself ideal did not die. Christoph Mullerleile in his book: ‘CARICOM Integration Progress and Hurdles: A European View’ 1996, notes that:

"It appeared as if the new wielders of power in the Caribbean Countries wanted to enjoy the advantages of closer regional cooperation without surrendering their own personal gains from sovereignty, power, status, position, their own personal financial advantages in favour of an immaterial commonalty resulting from arbitrary and exploitation by colonial power."

The theoretical perspectives espoused by many integration writers posit Caribbean integration in a standstill position. It is like an unconscious human, some vital organs still function, which keep the body going. But is it enough to exist in a semi comatose state are to moving and growing?

Another issue that came to the fore was the importance of CARICOM on the national agendas of the Member States. Sir Shridath Ramphal in his paper, Is the west Indies West Indian?; notes that "Words alone are never enough, except to deceive…the old urge for local control by those in control has not matured to provide real space for the unity we say we need." (Ramphal, 2011, pp. 5) The dialectic of what is and what ought to be. The battle for space by CARICOM in an adverse economic climate and in an era where regional integration seems to be a nasty word, the truth is that CARICOM is need now more than ever. Alvin Thompson in his book "The Haunting Past: Politics, Economics and Race in Caribbean Life",

"notes that regional integration must be high on our agenda, an integration that concentrates on wider institutional integration such as in the Association of Caribbean States (ACS), NAFTA and ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA). We must also develop a regional approach not only in respect of Lome, but also NAFTA, the WTO, the IMF and other international institutions and programmes." (Thompson, 1997; pp 248)

This researcher firmly believes that CROSQ has an integral role to play. Standards affect the way how business is done, and with whom. The Caribbean want to be a global economic player, but individual member states cannot do it alone. The umbrella of regional integration is very necessary. But what hinders us, is it like as Anthony Payne in his book, The Political History of CARICOM, 2008, noting, that "undeniable, too, water separates more effectively than land"? Or is as Ian Boxill notes as Ian Boxill in his book, Ideology and Caribbean Integration, 1993, notes; "regional integration in the Caribbean has always been seen as a means to an end and never as an end in its own right."? Do we as Vaughn Lewis suggest and pursue integration "by stealth"? (Lewis, 1999, pp.83)

We cannot unwrite the story. Even though CARICOM has evolved as Wendy Grenade posits "CARICOM has evolved into a 4-Ps framework: it is prime-ministerial, paper-based, piece-meal and people-less." (Grenade, 2011; pp: 12) This is glaringly true, especially with regards to the data collected from an informal survey done on various social medium to determine how much people know about COTED or CROSQ. Embarrassingly every person surveyed, indicated they had never heard of either organisation. The questions were posed to 60 persons, with 49 respondents. Of the 49 respondents, 18 were male and 31 were female. All persons had up to secondary level education or higher and persons originated from 5 of the CARICOM territories, Barbados, Trinidad & Tobago, St. Lucia, St. Vincent & the Grenadines and Dominica.

People cannot support what they do not know about or do not understand. The Caribbean region has been existing basically on a mono-crop type competitor economic structure, all countries offering for the most part, sun, sand and sea, all growing the same foods, most providing the same services and some so limited in their infrastructural makeup they hardly have any of the foregoing to offer.

PRACTICUM EXPERIENCE

The following is a synopsis of the researcher’s experience at the CARICOM Regional Organisation for Standards & Quality, (CROSQ) for the period of 12 weeks. The researcher was supervised by the then Information Systems Officer, Mrs. Nadia Corbin-Babb.

Weeks 1 – 4

The researcher was introduced to the organisation and its personnel. It was a requirement to do extensive reading on the structure of the organisation and more specifically about the technical committees. The reading facilitated a better understanding of an organisation the researcher had very little knowledge about, especially in the areas of metrology and conformity assessment. The process of standards creation was also an area where very limited knowledge was had.

Interviews of the Executive Secretary, Mr. Winston Bennett,

Weeks 5 – 8

Weeks 9 – 12

RECOMMENDATION

Spill over, invisible hand of integration, integrate in parts so that the sum total is affected and thus moved to full integration.

Nugent describes supranationalism as;

"Supra-nationalism involves states working with one another in a manner that does not allow them to retain complete control over developments. That is states may be obliged to do things against their preferences and their will because they do not have the power to stop decisions. Supra-nationalism thus takes inter-state relations beyond cooperation into integration and involves some loss of national sovereignty." (Nugent, 2006; pp. 558)

Little keys can open big doors, it is time we start taking on some big doors and determining for ourselves which path we will take.

What needs to be different is essentially our approach to each other. If we are one, then shouldn’t all of us be different enough to be a whole? Like the human body, some can be the two hands, some be the two legs and so on. In this way we do not compete with each other and therefore develop an absolute advantage in a particular area hopefully then being able to compete in the world market.

What needs to be different is essentially our approach to each other. If we are one, then shouldn’t all of us be different enough to be a whole? Like the human body, some can be the two hands, some be the two legs and so on. In this way we do not compete with each other and therefore develop an absolute advantage in a particular area hopefully then being able to compete in the world market.

CONCLUSION

Digenor/Dominica presenting a language barrier challenge and Haiti not only a language barrier but also a socio-economic and political challenge.

Before CARICOM can adequately respond to the challenges presented internally, it must also combat, contain, control and respond effectively to the challenges of the global market in which it is a very minor player.