Burundi celebrates the World Standards Day 2022

The World Standards Day was celebrated in Burundi on 16 November 2022. 

With the theme of " Common vision for a better world", the Burundi Bureau of Standards (BBN) marked the day with support of the International Trade Centre (ITC) through the European Union funded EU EAC MARKUP project.

The celebrations helped raise awareness about the utility of standards and their importance for Burundi in particular.

The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the Union Telecommunications International (ITU) in unison with the Government of Burundi emphasized the need for SMEs in Burundi to continuously improve the quality of their products and services through the implementation of standards.

The Director General of the Burundi Bureau of Standards (BBN) on behalf of the Minister of Trade, Transport, Industry and Tourism stressed that the celebration of the World Standards Day was an opportunity to improve knowledge about standards and their roles.

Citizens were encouraged to respect and apply the standards developed at international, regional, and national level for the preservation while guaranteeing top quality products and services.

The following areas of support from the ITC to BBN for improving its services was also highlighted at the ceremonies:

• Assistance to the BBN and private companies in setting up a quality management system certification and strengthening the product certification system, to better support the coffee, tea, and horticulture sectors in accordance with international standards. The BBN took this occasion to deliver its first quality management system certificate on ISO 9001 to Grain Milling Company. BBN is preparing for its accreditation on quality management system certification.

• Technical assistance to BBN, ISABU and CNTA laboratories for their ISO 17025 accreditation.
• Two courses conducted by Bureau Veritas Kenya on ISO 9001-2015 Quality Management System (QMS) Lead Auditor Course that took place from 28 February to 4 March 2022 and the Food Safety Management System Lead Auditor Course (SMSA) ISO 22000:2018 organized from March 7 to 11, 2022 for 20 participants from BBN.

• 17 Quality champions were also delivered their certificates after completion of trainings and SMEs coaching.