Standards are everywhere, yet go mostly unnoticed. They define how
products, processes, and people interact, assessing these entities'
features and performance and signaling their level of quality and
reliability. They can convey important benefits to trade,
productivity, and technological progress and play an important role
in the health and safety of individual consumers and the
environment. Firms' ability to produce competitive products depends
on the availability of adequate quality-support services. A
"national quality infrastructure" denotes the chain of public and
private services (standardization, metrology, inspection, testing,
certification, and accreditation) needed to ascertain that products
and services introduced in the marketplace meet defined
requirements, whether demanded by authorities or by consumers. In
much of Eastern Europe and Central Asia, national quality
infrastructure systems are underdeveloped and not harmonized with
those of their trading partners. This imbalance increases trade
costs, hinders local firms' competitiveness, and weakens overall
export performance. The objective of Harnessing Quality for Global
Competitiveness in Eastern Europe and Central Asia is to highlight
the need to reform and modernize the institutions in the region
toward better quality and standards. The book ties in with much of
the work done in the World Bank on the business environment, trade
facilitation, economic diversification, and enterprise innovation.
The countries in the region can improve this situation, revising
mandatory standards, streamlining technical regulations, and
harmonizing their national quality infrastructure with those of
regional and international trade partners. Most governments will
need to invest strategically in their national quality
infrastructure, including pooling services with neighboring
countries and stimulating local awareness and demand for quality.
Specifically for the countries of the former Soviet Union, the
restructuring process will need to improve governance, thus
eliminating conflicts of interest and providing technically
credible services to the economy.
General
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