Ethiopia’s National Standards Council (NSC) approved 926 standards for products under 5 different sectors. Among these standards 261 were new while 198 were revised and 467 were reaffirmed.

When approving the standards, the council had 970 standards proposed to it by the Ethiopian Standard Agency. It rejected 44 proposed standards.

Commenting on the development Endale Mekonnen, director general of the Agency, said the approval of the standards would enhance technology transfer and innovation as well as help access new markets by fulfilling the requirements of beneficiary countries.

Amongst the approved standards, 288 were for chemical products, 207 for electromechanical, 169 for textile and leather and 164 for agricultural and food products. On the other hand, 98 were for basic and general sectors.

According to Fortune NCS has the power to endorse national standards proposed to it by technical committees made up of stakeholders from governmental and private businesses, academicians and professionals.

It was back in 2010 that Ethiopian Standard Agency was established. It provides standard preparation, technical support and training services in addition to awareness creation work.

Currently Ethiopia has 170 mandatory and 10,000 voluntary Ethiopian standards in effect.

Source: Fortune