National Compliance and Regulatory Authority a Key Part of the Quality Infrastructure

The National Compliance and Regulatory Authority (NCRA) is playing a key role in ensuring that Jamaica has a strong national quality infrastructure (NQI) that creates opportunities for expanding trade, which is crucial to economic development.

The NQI is a platform to strengthen the quality and standard threshold for locally produced goods and services based on international benchmarks, and includes standardisation, accreditation and conformity assessment services.

Jamaica, like many other countries, requires a quality infrastructure that not only develops standards and technical regulations but implements them as well.

The NCRA contributes to the process by inspecting and monitoring food-processing establishments, examining commodities at the ports of entry and in the domestic market, and ensuring that the scales and measuring devices used in trade are accurate.

Speaking at a recent ‘Stating the Facts: The Regulator’s Table’ forum, Chief Executive Officer of the NCRA, Dr. Lorice Edwards Brown, noted that the entity, which began operations in 2016, is a key pillar of the NQI.

“The NCRA is your quality management partner with regulatory responsibility for monitoring, inspecting and executing enforcement actions,” she said, noting that this is in compliance with the World Trade Organization (WTO) requirements.

She noted that the entity, through its conformity assessment role, ensures that the goods and services that are provided to consumers are of high quality and meet their demands.

“Jamaicans love quality. We want quality goods and services, and we want to know that we are getting value for our money,” Dr. Edwards Brown said.