In an effort to harmonize and/or complement each other’s activities, the Department of Trade and Industry – Philippine Accreditation Bureau (DTI-PAB) and Department of National Defense (DND) entered into an agreement that will necessitate the harmonization of conformity assessment functions between the two agencies.
Through this collaboration, DTI-PAB and DND will become role model in recognizing and consuming DTI-PAB’s accreditation services. By consuming accreditation services offered by DTI-PAB, this will provide reassurance to clientele that the government’s own conformity assessment capabilities are independently evaluated and recognized for their technical competence. Another benefit is that, this will provide additional confidence that consumers and society in general will be protected by the use of competent bodies in determining compliance with laws, regulations and specifications.
Competitiveness and Innovation Group (CIG) Undersecretary Rafaelita M. Aldaba highlighted during the meeting that this agreement commits both agencies to work hand-in-hand to help clientele comply with regulations and better serve the public.
“This meeting is important to better understand all these different regulations in place — that are being implemented by DND and its offices as well as the importance of accreditation that are being done by DTI-PAB,” Usec. Aldaba said.
In his presentation, DND Alternate Member to the PAB Council, Mr. David R. LCruz also expressed his support, citing that this collaboration will help in the institutionalization of standards and development. He also emphasized the importance of accreditation in their defense-related testing centers.
As an output of the online meeting, it was agreed to come up with an MoU/MoA between the two agencies. Other agreements include: recognition of PAB accreditation through the use of accredited Conformity Assessment Bodies (CABs) for DND’s procurement needs; conduct pre-assessment of DND’s testing/calibration laboratory, inspection/certification body, if it intends to apply for accreditation; provide technical expert for PAB assessment/resource speaker for briefing sessions, just to name a few.
Ultimately, collaboration with regulatory agencies will result in an enhance system that will help in ensuring a compliant, high quality standardized services available for all.
The virtual meeting held on May 27, 2021 via Zoom were headed by DTI-CIG Undersecretary Rafaelita M. Aldaba and DTI-PAB Director James E. Empeño and attended by other DTI-PAB personnel. DND representative Mr. David R. LCruz attended the meeting on behalf of Undersecretary Arnel M. Duco and other key officials. For more information about DTI-PAB and its services, please visit www.dti.gov.ph/pab.