ISLAMABAD: The business community has expressed concerns over the warning issued by the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) to suspend Pakistan’s membership, as this could lead to serious image issue for all goods and services originating in Pakistan.

The ISO has warned to suspend the membership of Pakistan Quality Standards Control Authority (PSQCA) if the annual subscription pending since 2022 was not cleared.

Responding to a query by Dawn, Vice President and in-charge of Federation of Pakistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) capital office Aminullah Beg said such slackness by the authorities had to be taken as a serious crime.

“We have taken up this matter with the prime minister too as not only will the exports suffer, but if the ISO membership of Pakistan is suspended even for one day, all goods exported will not be received by the buyers abroad,” Mr Beg said.

PSQCA annual subscription pending since 2022; official claims issue to be resolved next week

He said the main problem in Pakistan was that the bureaucracy had become too strong and they were not held accountable for any misdoing or callous performance.

The ISO had told the government through the Permanent Mission of Pakistan to the United Nations office and other international organisations in Geneva that the subscription fee for the year 2022 remains unpaid, leading to the suspension of PSQCA membership.

The ISO had said that in case of suspension the PSQCA will not have voting rights, and other facilities including access to free publications and documents from the organisation.

The warning comes following a series of reminders sent by the ISO, and the international body has also outlined the cumbersome process for membership restoration in case of suspension.

Established under the PSQCA Act 1996 to provide one-window services for Standardisation and Conformity Assessment, the authority is the local agency of ISO in Pakistan to enforce and implement quality and environmental management systems including the ISO:9001-2000 and ISO:14000 and assistance to local industries to obtain certifications for these systems.

PSQCA’s acting director general Dr H.U. Khan has denied that there was any crisis-like situation and the threat of membership suspension has subsided.

“There was a grace period and it was only a warning; the government has responded in a timely manner and the matter will be resolved next week,” Dr Khan said.

He said the delay was only due to the recent dollar crisis and the PSQCA had forwarded the request for payment of annual fee to the ISO but all outflow of foreign exchange was restricted by the government in recent past.

Incidentally, Dr Khan, who has been reposted to PSQCA as its acting head, declined to comment on the fact that there is no regular director general of PSQCA since September 2021, and all other key officers at acting charge include director administration, director import-export, director quality control, Lahore, deputy directors quality control KPK, Hub and Quetta, deputy directors Standards Development Centre (SDC) for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Hattar, Multan, Faisalabad, Quetta and Karachi.

Incidentally the deputy director finance, Syed Ali Bukhari, has been given the additional charge of director administration, director finance as well as the acting PSQCA secretary.

Stakeholders have criticised the state of affairs in the PSQCA claiming that it was not just any department but it was like a rating agency for all industries.

“Just because of red tape and official lacuna, the industry was suffering and the reputation of local manufacturing units was at risk,” Islamabad Industrial Association President Ahmed Waheed said.

He said not only international buyers were already looking at Pakistani products with suspicion, it was getting difficult to convince international investors too about the quality standards of industrial units in the country.

“This was because of few government departments like PSQCA,” Mr Waheed added.

Published in Dawn, September 3rd, 2023