The Department of Trade and Industry’s Bureau of Philippine Standards (DTI-BPS), together with the International Organization for Standardization’s (ISO) Central and Regional Engagement Initiative (REI) offices, organizes the “Stakeholders Engagement Program” on 04 July 2017 at the Philippine Trade Training Center (PTTC) in Pasay City, and the “Regional Training Program on Good Standardization Practices” on 05-07 July 2017 at the Manila Peninsula Hotel in Makati City.

The DTI-BPS proposed the assistance to ISO in Geneva, Switzerland to enhance its capabilities as a National Standards Body as well as the abilities of other standards development organizations (SDOs) and regulators in the country. The ISO, through its Regional Office in Singapore, agreed to the proposal and supplied the necessary funds, while the DTI-BPS made the arrangements to conduct the programs. The ISO provided two (2) experts to facilitate the training programs – Ms. Siglinde Kaiser from Germany and Mr. Martin Gerhard Kellerman from South Africa.

In the Stakeholders’ Engagement Program, the ISO will provide a better understanding of their commitment to national standardization programs and activities with the expected 60 participants from the Philippine regulators, standards officers and implementers, and standards-setting groups and offices.

DTI-BPS Officer-in-Charge and concurrently the Assistant Secretary of the DTI’s Consumer Protection Group (CPG) Atty. Ernesto V. Perez emphasizes, “More importantly, this engagement program will provide a venue for discussions on the initiatives of the Central and Regional Offices of ISO and their relevance to the Philippines’ professionals and implementers of standards”.

The topics in the Standards’ Engagement Program include how the international and national standards can support public policy; what are the responsibilities of Chairpersons of the National Standards Body Technical Committees in chairing methodologies, obtaining consensus and dealing with difficult situations during meetings; how are the strategic capabilities of the NSB and SDOs are strengthened; and, how can the involvement of NSB and SDOs to international standardization be strengthened.

“The DTI-BPS strictly adheres to the ISO’s policy on equal access to participation in the National Standards Body (NSB)’s process for development of national positions”, OIC Perez affirms.

On the other hand, the ISO Regional Training Program on Good Standardization Practices, gathers 30 delegates from the National Standards Bodies of 17 ISO-member countries namely, Bhutan, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Singapore, and, Vietnam.

This training program is part of the ISO Action Plan for Developing Countries, which intends to strengthen the ISO members’ capacity and involvement in standardization activities; increase the awareness of the benefits of such capacity and involvement; and, enhance the developing country’s regional cooperation.

Among the topics of this program are the Good Standardization Practices (GSP) and their applications; relevance of the World Trade Organization Technical Barriers to Trade (WTO-TBT) Agreement in harmonizing national standards to international standards; production of credible national standards; linkages and participation in regional and international standardization; and, appropriate representation of various stakeholders.

“Through these ISO programs, the BPS expects that its capabilities and its partner agencies’ as standards development organizations (SDOs) will be greatly enhanced, and consequently assist to boost the country’s export potentials by updating the stakeholders on the latest regulatory measures, conformity assessment procedure and trade concerns by other member countries in the region.

The DTI-BPS is the Philippines’ member to the ISO. OIC Perez explains, “As the National Standards Body of the Philippines, the DTI-BPS maintains the Philippines’ membership to ISO, which is essential to the country’s harmonization of its Philippine National Standards (PNS) to international standards to promote competitiveness and trade facilitation among the public and private sectors.

“The Philippines’ membership to ISO is essential to ensure that international standards are being used and are referred to in developing and finalizing the Philippine National Standards”, OIC Perez adds.

The Philippines, through the DTI-BPS, is a member of the ISO since 1967. The Bureau maintains its Participating (P) and Observer (O) memberships to ISO that specify the degree of participation of a member-country to ISO’s Technical Committees. As of May 2017, the Philippines is a P-member to 23 ISO Technical Committees and 18 Sub-Committees; and is an O-member to 60 Technical Committees and 37 Sub-Committees”.

For more information on the stakeholders engagement and GSP programs, send an email to bps@dti.gov.ph.