Yemeni industrialists and businessmen comment on quality standards decree [Archives:2002/39/Reportage]

BY FAROUK AL-KAMALI
TAIZ BUREAU
Was the cabinet decree no 155 for 2002 issued to raise local products to Gulf quality standards? What are the negative and positive effects of this decree from the private and public sector’s viewpoints?
In order to develop Yemen’s economy to be able to join some of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) institutions and for Yemen to be a member at the WTO, the cabinet issued decree no 155, 2002 that approves Gulf quality standards as the official quality standards that must be met by all locally produced goods.
A report issued by the Yemeni Standards and Quality Control Organization (YSQCO) has indicated that applying the decree will have the private sector reconsider some of its products. These products according to the report are in a way or another unable to compete with other imported products as they will fail to meet the new standards stated in the decree.
The report added that the consumer’s lack of awareness would shift his attention from local to imported products, some of which are lower in quality than their equivalent domestic products.
Globalization and open markets have made Yemeni industries think thoroughly of how to enhance their product’s quality to be able to compete, especially after applying this decree.
Governmental officials see that the cabinet’s decree has been approved as a step towards joining the GCC. They feel that it will also pave the way for Yemeni products to be enhanced in quality and hence compete with products coming from Gulf States.
The YSQCO made contacts with the Standards and Qualities Control of the GCC informing it of the new development concerning the issuance of this new decree.
The cabinet’s decree was criticized and debated by a number of Yemeni industrialists and businessmen, who urged to have some amendments and reconsiderations.
The General Manager of the Taiz-based Yemeni Company for Gee & Soap Industry Shukri al-Furais said that the cabinet’s decree was very critical and serious in its impact on local industries, especially when realizing the limited potentials the country has compared to GCC states.
“The fact that the Yemeni market is open to imported products filling our markets and the fact that most Yemeni consumers are unaware of the better quality of local products makes the decree very critical.” Al-Furais said.
The significance of the cabinet’s decree comes from the fact that the new standards should apply to all products that come into the country so as to prevent harming the consumer of outdated or smuggled foodstuff products. The decree cannot be applied unless there are strenuous efforts exerted by the concerned bodies at borders, harbors, ports, and industrial complexes.
This should be activated through establishing inspection offices and labs for examining the imported products and their validity. “Despite the regularly exerted efforts made by the YSQCO to examine selected vegetable oils, it was found that most of these oils are unfit for human consumption because they are smuggled to the Yemeni markets through the borders and stored in unsafe conditions. We are in favor of the decree, but the Yemeni markets have some pre-determined specifications. What is needed is to amend some articles to the newly adopted Gulf quality standards to match the requirements of the Yemeni markets,” al-Furais added.
“Gulf quality standards are not applied to all Gulf states equally, especially when dealing with locally produced goods in those countries. This is a clear testimony of having a private policy for each state. On the other hand, all Gulf states apply international quality standards on all goods regardless of the manufacturing country.” he noted further.
The General Manager of the YCGSI believes that the decree will harm the domestic industries as well as the consumer. “The Yemeni manufacturers will be the first to apply the efficiency of monitoring products more than others, but this will lead to increase in prices of locally produced goods, and as you know, the price is the main factor behind the purchase of goods in Yemen because of the low income and lack of awareness.” He added.
Jameel al-Maqtari, the Vice-Chairman of the YSQCO Committee in the Capital Secretariat said, “In principle, we are in favor of the decree which is for the benefit of the consumer protection and that will achieve equilibrium between consumers and manufacturers.”
However, he also said that the decree has been issued without any further comprehensive studies. “There are other factors to be taken into consideration by the commerce and industry chamber including the global changes taking place in the world including free trade, open markets, and Yemen’s possible joining of the WTO,” he said
“The decree might be an attempt to enhance quality standards, but the decree has been issued without participation of many concerned bodies,” he added.
Al-Maqtari said that decree’s weakness lies in the fact that it was based on the international and Gulf quality standards without taking the uniqueness of Yemen into consideration. “The implementation of the Gulf quality standards will face institutional problems, lack of developmental requirements and technological changes.”Concerning the GCC opinion on this development, Mohammed Abduh, the Assistant Secretary General for the Economic Affairs at the GCC said, “Nothing concerning unifying product standards has been completed yet. In case we are not able to unify them, they can be agreed upon based on the principles used for domestic products in the GCC.”He added that the decree isn’t compatible with appendix 4 of the (TBT) and WTO agreement entitled “Code to good practice for the preparation, adoption and application to standards.”He indicated that he didn’t expect from developing countries to apply international quality standards as a basis for their standards. “Developed countries adopted quality standards to protect the technological aspects in the process of local production in response to their developmental requirements.””On the other hand, the decree will discourage consumers from purchasing Yemeni thinking that local products needed such a decree because their quality level is doubtful,” Mohammed Abduh stated.
“The decree in this sense has permitted the unchecked products to be imported from the Gulf thinking that they have already met the Gulf quality standards.” he added.
Al-Maqtari suggested that the Yemen and GCC states have to search for common ground concerning the principles of the reciprocal recognition of the Yemen-Gulf quality standards.

——
[archive-e:39-v:2002-y:2002-d:2002-09-23-p:./2002/iss39/report.htm]