Speech by The Hon. Edwin Vassallo, Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry For Economic Services, during a Seminar organised by the Malta Standards Authority on Accreditation

Our meeting today, will mainly concentrate on the necessity of promoting the importance of Quality on the market. This seminar will look into MSA’s accreditation process, especially what this process involves, and why accreditation is necessary.

I do understand that this meeting includes technicians, bureaucratic experts, and also businessmen from our commercial sector that are interested in this area.

This Seminar, would be giving a boost to all those concerned in the sector, including those businesses that manufacture, and those that give services, that Quality is an issue that must be included in their business plan. Our participation in this meeting, confirms our awareness to the fact that unless we work together, we can never arrive to a good level of quality. This seminar is another step forward to creating the right circumstances, and working atmosphere, where bureaucrats, together with the business community, understand that the quality concept is not a luxury, but a necessity that guarantees value for money for the product sold or service given to the consumer.

For this concept to be understood, bureaucracy also has a part to play in its development. In this sector, regulation policy and development has been assigned to the Standards Authority, guaranteeing a structure that can monitor quality standards in our country. The M.S.A., as it is generally known, as an authority has the duty to establish standards, for all products or services offered on our market. This means that all manufacturers, and importers alike, will be guided by regulations, indicating which products may be manufactured, or imported in our country.

Success in business can only be guaranteed by offering Quality products on our markets.

These standards should also be known and made available to consumers. The MSA has been assigned the responsibility of regulation. Quality enforcement has been accredited to the Consumer’s Department, while the Customs department is responsible at the product importation stage.

The Malta Standards Authority Council, offers a first hand consultation experience, involving a wide spectrum of business entities representatives, including manufacturing and importers. This consolation procedure offers a system where all regulations are discussed prior to publishing, in this way business entities understand that they have to regulate themselves, which is the most effective way of effective enforcement.

It has to be regarded wrong, and bad business practice, for any business entities offering consumers products that do not conform to the standards required. It is a fact that products that do not meet the standards as required by the MSA may be sold at lower prices than those meeting the standard requirements. This lower price should be considered as a price that lowers quality.

Quality has a price, and lower quality offers risks. These quality regulations may also be interpreted as additional bureaucratic procedures. This may be true. But if our aim is to guarantee quality products being sold from our businesses, and protecting consumers rights, this regulation must be regarded as the right direction to take.

Our country is adapting itself to changes and different perceptions, from a market perception that everything goes, to a perception that quality is requested. An increase in quality, and value for money, is a direct result from these regulations that define Quality Standards.

In our country, government is committed to cultivating a Quality culture. We cannot continue accepting everything.

We cannot continue expecting to satisfy consumer demand by providing only ‘quantity’. We have to strive in providing ‘Quality’.

The processes that we will be discussing today may be understood by certain sectors that the quality Concept is part of a new complicated machinery that entrepreneurs will now have to face in their line of business. It can be regarded as an increase in overheads. It can be regarded as additional bureaucratic procedures. But it is important to make sure that it is important that this Seminar proves first and foremost that making money from cheap business is not on our future agenda.

It has been proven that offering value for money as a priority in business guarantees an added incentive to balance any additional overheads incurred. Value for money brings repeat business. I say this, as I feel that there should be no excuse to do away with the Quality Concept. We cannot find any excuse to interpret Quality Standards as an increase in bureaucratic procedures. Neither can we keep insisting that this concept will lead to an increase in costs, that we may have survived without. Time will prove that paying for quality, will guarantee value for money, and that cheap or less expensive alternatives will prove expensive in the long run.

This sound advice should be given to the business sector, and MSA should be helpful to business entities by introducing these quality standards, and finalizing accreditation criteria. We have organized working groups that include the M.S.A., the P.O., the S.B.U., I.P.S.E., and E.I.C., all of which form part of the Ministry For Economic Services. This working group’s main aim is to cultivate a business community that is capable of understanding Quality Standards, by implementing a United Nations resolution, which discussed the implementation of Quality Standards. The study and conclusions of this forum has been published as a document, which is known as " Conclusions and Recommendations of the Expert meeting on Best Practice in the Creation of Quality Assurance Systems"

I believe that it is our commitment to collectively work to establish this surge in Quality in our country. While understanding that this commitment is no easy task, we must understand that it is a commitment to guarantee that our people benefit from higher quality products, putting us in the same parameters as other developed countries.

That is why I trust that this seminar, although restricted to the accreditation process, will help cultivate a culture where our market operators are aware and understand that certified quality products are a guarantee to successful business.