Business View Caribbean | December 2019

31 BUSINESS VIEW CARIBBEAN DECEMBER 2019 BUREAU OF STANDARDS JAMA I CA infrastructure for global trade, etc. The Bureau of Standards was set up in 1969 to facilitate trade, both locally and internationally. At that time, the Bureau did everything – inspected goods, made regulations, tried to facilitate trade, did training, tried to do certification, accreditation. But with the WTO (World Trade Organization), the requirements for infrastructure for trade changed. “The first entity to break off from what was then the Jamaica Bureau of Standards was the accreditation body, JANAAC (Jamaica National Agency for Accreditation). Later on, when it was recognized we were training people to be certified, and doing the certification, the National Certification Body of Jamaica (NCBJ) was formed. It now provides certification for ISO quality management systems; we are now at 9001:2015. In 2016, the National Compliance & Regulatory Authority (NCRA) was formed. So, over 50 years, the Jamaica Bureau of Standards morphed into four entities that build out the national quality The Petroleum (Quality Control) Regulations (1990), and The CARICOM Regional Organization for Standards and Quality Act (2005). An agency of the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture & Fisheries (MICAF), the Bureau is governed by a 14-member Standards Council comprised of a Chairman, Director of Standards (Executive Director), and 12 stakeholder group representatives appointed by the Minister. To glean information and insight into the past, present, and future of the Bureau, Business View Caribbean spoke with BSJ Executive Director, Mr. Hopeton Heron. The following is an edited transcript of that conversation. BVC: Congratulations on the 50th anniversary! Could you provide some background on BSJ and how it has evolved? Heron: “Thank you! It came about after Jamaica got Independence in 1962. During that decade, institutions were being built out to set up our