Standards authority functions

The article "Organisers claim sabotage" (May 3) warrants further clarification regarding the nature of the services offered by the Malta Standards Authority and the duties incumbent on it by law.

The Malta Standards Authority offers services in the ambit of voluntary standards, technical regulations and conformity assessment. These functions are carried out through its five directorates which are accreditation; consumer and industrial goods; food, chemicals and cosmetics; metrology; and standardisation.

One duty which the authority has is the preparation of standards. Hence, each of its directorates either prepares regulations on behalf of the government (and hence these become compulsory) or draft or adopts standards (and hence the standards remain voluntary) for Maltese industry. Technical regulations are mandatory and their violation would constitute a breach of the law. An example of voluntary standards may be found in the same issue of The Times (May 3) which carried also the report of the launch of the first home-grown Maltese standard which deals with the allocation of the characters of the Maltese alphabet to the computer keyboard. Such standard, even though desirable, is not compulsory.

The other duty which the authority has is a consultative one. Operators in the industry and members of the public are welcome to contact the MSA for the provision of any information regarding standards. Furthermore, the authority organises seminars with the aim of informing all the interested parties of what is going on in the world of standards. The authority also offers a library facility which is open to the public for anybody wishing to consult the thousands of standards housed in the MSA library.

It is therefore evident that it is not the duty of MSA to enforce the laws relating to regulations. Enforcement lies elsewhere in government units equipped to deal with the enforcement of these laws and others. Moreover, it is important to point out that the MSA does not have any officials who are authorised to enforce any laws and hence, any person who presents himself as enforcing some law or other on behalf of and in the name of the MSA is an impostor and any tag or badge bearing the logo of the MSA and/or any information somehow related to the MSA is false.

For this reason, I urge readers to be wary of any such individuals and should they be forced to undergo some sort of enforcement in the name of the MSA, they should refuse to comply with the "official`s" orders and report the matter to the MSA and the police forthwith.

More information may be obtained from the MSA by phone on 21242420 or by e-mail at info@msa.org.mt