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The Prime Minister has recently approved a scheme to develop the technical organisations in charge of national standards, metrology and quality, with the aim of building a complete, modern and increasingly internationally recognised system of those organisations, while accelerating the digital transformation across the domestic technical processes.
Under Decision 1876/QD-TTg, a major focus of the scheme is to consolidate, upgrade and modernise existing technical organisations in charge of standards, metrology and quality with enhanced capacity to meet the statutory requirements for national-level technical organisations.
In light of this, the State will continue concentrating resources on core and essential technical capacities of non-state enterprises to participate in the field of standards, metrology and quality.
By 2030, the system is expected to better meet state management requirements, help enterprises improve their productivity, quality and competitiveness, boost exports, and facilitate the development of strategic technologies.
As for accreditation, the country will consolidate one national accreditation organisation that meets ISO/IEC 17011 and international requirements. Its scope of accreditation will be expanded to cover new fields such as artificial intelligence, greenhouse gases, certification of utilities, verification, and Halal certification. All accreditation processes are also expected to be fully digitalised under the scheme.
In the domain of conformity assessment, at least three testing organisations, one certification organisation and one inspection body that are currently operating in the country will be upgraded up to national-level requirements. These organisations will have to strengthen their testing, certification and inspection capabilities in priority sectors, strategic technologies and key export industries, while fully digitalising their processes.
In metrology, the scheme aims to consolidate one national-level metrology organisation, add at least 50 internationally recognised calibration and measurement capabilities (CMCs), produce at least 30 types of certified reference materials, and organise at least 100 proficiency testing programmes.
Notably, by 2030, at least 75 per cent of national standards will be harmonised with international and regional standards; some 100 national standards developed and published for strategic technology and strategic production groups, and at least 300 international standardisation experts trained and developed.
The scheme further targets the conversion of at least half of national standards on the priority list into SMART Standards.
To achieve these targets, the Government has identified five groups of tasks, including improving the institutional framework; developing the national quality infrastructure; training high-quality human resources; accelerating the digital transformation and the application of artificial intelligence and big data; and intensifying international cooperation and mobilisation of resources.- (VLLF)
