GNBS to monitor electrical devices from January

The Guyana National Bureau of Standards (GNBS) will start monitoring electrical fittings and equipment from January to ensure defective goods are not sold on the local market.

Public Relations Officer, Mr. Lloyd David said the Bureau has developed 30 National Standards for these apparatuses, which will be used for monitoring.

“We want to get on board with that; it is very critical that we do so. Many times, complaints are made regarding poor quality electrical equipment and fittings coming into the country and made available to consumers,” he told DPI in a recent interview.

The GNBS advanced work on creating the standards as faulty equipment can cause injury and fires.

The Bureau has already done some ground work to inform stakeholders about the Standards, their roles and responsibilities, and the actions that it will take when monitoring starts.

“When we find defective items, items that do not comply, we will either seize and remove them or place them on hold so that persons will not be able to sell those items […] We  will be very firm with it because we have given the stakeholders adequate grace time to take the necessary actions to ensure they have quality products when our monitoring fully commences,” Mr. David explained.

The GNBS is also working on building capacity to test concrete blocks.

“A lot of persons would like to determine the quality of blocks they have purchased or they have manufactured, so we see a need in that area,” he said.

Currently, the GNBS monitors 17 categories of commodities on the local market, but there are difficulties.

“Overall testing of products is a challenge to the GNBS. In the meantime, we rely on the certificate provided by the manufacturer/importer, saying that the product is of quality. Of course, that certificate comes from a third-party testing body,” he explained.

The certificates provided by the third-parties are authenticated by the GNBS before the item is approved for sale locally.

“Testing requires equipment, laboratories and the right conditions, so we are looking to build our own state-of-the-art facilities some time in the near future where we can have the various laboratories available to conduct those testing,” Mr. David said.

In the meantime, the GNBS is in the process of identifying the critical areas where testing is needed to develop the required laboratories.