Quality Affects Your Life

The Quality Infrastructure

Without a well-functioning quality infrastructure, the economic and social development of a country is not conceivable: screws fit screw nuts, battery charger leads fit the mobile phones and the plug the socket. Producers and consumers make daily use of the components of a quality infrastructure without being aware of it. The term quality infrastructure refers to the whole of the working fields of metrology, standardisation and testing, of quality management, evaluation of conformity including certification and accreditation.
A complete and internationally recognized network for quality infrastructure is indispensable.



The quality infrastructure comprises elements of standards, quality, metrology and accreditation, each of which can be defined as follows:

1. Standards
A standard is a document that provides for common and repeated use, rules, guidelines or characteristics for products and their related processes or production methods, with which compliance is not mandatory. It may also cover terminology, symbols, packaging, marking or labelling requirements as they apply to a product, process or production method. A link exists between technical regulations and standards. Technical regulations use standards as a basis for implementing required product characteristics. When a standard is declared binding, it becomes a technical regulation.
Standards are voluntary in nature and can be developed by a variety of bodies in the public or private sector. Standards specify only the product characteristics, or technical requirements, with which products or processes have to comply in order to meet the standards.

2. Quality
Quality is defined as the “degree to which a set of inherent characteristics fulfils requirements.” The quality of goods and services involves many activities that are co-ordinated through quality management. Quality management involves the development from which both processes and people benefit with the objective being the continual improvement of product conformance.

3. Metrology
Metrology covers both the theoretical and practical aspects of measurements and can be divided into general metrology (electromagnetic, mechanical, chemical metrology), industrial metrology focused on measurements in production and quality control (calibration procedures and calibration intervals, control of measurement processes and management of measuring equipment). Legal metrology relates to mandatory technical requirements that ensure correct measurements in terms of protection of the consumer.
Metrology provides the technical means to ensure correct measurements by the implementation of a harmonised system of measurement which comprises the International System of Units (SI), accurate measuring instruments complying with international standards, and validated methods and procedures.

4. Accreditation
Accreditation is the formal recognition of competence and is applied to laboratories, inspection bodies and certification bodies. International activity in accreditation is in the form of co-operation between national or regional accreditation systems, which seek to provide a worldwide accreditation capability through networks of mutual recognition agreements.

The above definitions have been adopted from “Export Quality Management: An answer book for small and medium-sized exporters.”