Jordan
Times
Thursday, December 21, 2000
Failure to 'catch up' means unsustainable growth, uneven development
Riad al Khouri
ONE OF the trickier aspects of competing in the global market is that developed countries are becoming increasingly strict in the application of standards and specifications. This is making it harder for suppliers in developing areas, including Arab countries, to meet such requirements, particularly with the sometimes inadequate support received from local standardisation-related bodies. These are sometimes unable to cope with changes worldwide in this field, so in principle, there is a commitment of industrialised states to grant technical assistance to developing countries on the preparation of regulations and in the establishment of national standardisation bodies. Such activities are often undertaken jointly with international organisations, such as the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO). However, much remains to be done by the industrialised states in this respect, though the fault also sometimes lies with developing countries that do not make adequate requests for assistance.
With increasing international economic liberalisation accompanying globalisation, Arab industries are faced with serious challenges as they try to compete with manufactures of other countries, whether exporting or locally. In the new economic environment, Arab industries especially need to enhance competitiveness based on good support in the areas of standards, quality, metrology, testing, certification and accreditation. This increases the importance of international standardisation and related issues, including ISO 9000 and 14000, and the application of such standards for accessing world markets.
In most Arab countries standardisation infrastructure is still plagued by problems from which the science and technology sector as a whole suffers, such as lack of qualified staff, migration of trained personnel to other sectors and countries, lack of testing facilities, and weakness of certification and accreditation bodies. However, though the existing infrastructure in these areas in the Arab countries is still in many cases either not fully developed or partly applied for other objectives that are no longer a priority, the situation in this regard has improved recently.
Apart from efforts made locally or through bilateral technical assistance, weakness in the area of standards may to some extent be remedied through international agreements, especially for Arab states that are part of the Euro-Med process. In the case of Tunisia for example, its Euro-Med Agreement states: "The Parties shall, when the circumstances are right, conclude agreements for the mutual recognition of certification." The agreement also mentions that the EU and Tunisia "shall co-operate in developing: the use of community rules in standardisation, metrology, quality control and conformity assessment; the updating of Tunisian laboratories, leading eventually to the conclusion of mutual recognition agreements for conformity assessment; and the bodies responsible for intellectual, industrial, and commercial property and for standardisation and quality in Tunisia."
Implications of the environmental ISO 14000 series in particular are becoming more important, as products and services must increasingly confirm to various criteria in order to ensure fair trade and to break down trade barriers. The major benefits of ISO 14000 certification relate to conformity with laws and regulations, and adherence to export requirements and the terms of international environmental agreements. The main obstacles include consultancy and certification costs, lack of commitment by management, lack of market demand, lack of awareness regarding ISO 14000 benefits, and low return on investment in certification. These, among other reasons, have slowed the adoption of ISO 14000 by many developing countries in general, including most Arab states.
While essentially aimed at environmental targets, ISO 14000 may also give greater credibility with financial institutions, insurance companies, and consumers. Non-participation could have adverse effects on a firm's competitiveness. This may be the case, for example, for organisations in Arab countries where some governments find it difficult to provide the required infrastructure, and firms could face institutional and technical obstacles to participating in such schemes. Moreover, in developed countries, a trend is emerging in which local firms impose environment-related requirements on their suppliers, including those in developing states. This implies the need for Arab countries to integrate environmental management into business policies to ensure competitiveness.
ISO 14000 certification in the Arab world has been limited, with the records for 1997 showing the following numbers of certified companies: Egypt seven; UAE four; Oman one, and Saudi Arabia one. By end-1999, the Arab countries had the following numbers of ISO 14000 certified companies: Egypt 38, UAE 36, Bahrain two, Jordan eight, Saudi Arabia three, Syria two, and Lebanon four. Otherwise, all other Arab countries had only one ISO 14000 certified organisation each (Morocco, Oman, Qatar, and Tunisia) or none at all. This shows that the process of ISO 14000 certification still has a long way to go in the region, particularly as compared to other parts of the world. The Arab region lags behind, for example, South Africa and other developing economies, not to mention the developed world. On the other hand, in this as in many other areas, the UAE is proving to be something of a trend-setter.
By contrast, the situation regarding ISO 9000 certification in the region has improved, with the UAE in particular joining the ranks of those countries that have passed the 1000 mark of organisations that had obtained certification by end-99 (1045). Elsewhere in the region, progress over the past five years has been made in this respect: records for end-1995 showed the following numbers of ISO 9000 certified companies in various Arab states including Egypt 45, UAE 104, Jordan two, Oman 20, and Saudi Arabia 96; by December 1997, these countries showed the following numbers of ISO 9000 certified companies: UAE 975, Egypt 344, Saudi Arabia 211, Oman 53, Jordan 35; by end-1999 the number of ISO 9000 certified companies in Egypt had increased to 649, Jordan 257, Oman 82, and Saudi Arabia 324.
Though the accelerating trend in this respect is encouraging, most Arab countries are still burdened with standards and rules that belong more to the 19th century than the third millennium. The UAE seems to be an exception, but when will the rest of the Arab world start to catch up? Failure to do so means unsustainable growth and uneven development.