Competitiveness and Communications Minister Censu Galea yesterday spoke about the achievements and targets over the past months of the Malta Standards Authority (MSA). He told a news conference at the ministry in Santa Venera that “a lot of quiet, hard work is being done by MSA with industry and as time passes the public is becoming more conscious of their work. International standards have been instrumental in the development of telecommunications networks, creating more opportunities for small businesses.”
The MSA’s chairman, Ing. Francis E. Farrugia said: “This event concludes a series of activities, marking this year’s 10th anniversary of MSA. 2007 represents the year when we can say we have reached international status in all the services we provide. MSA is adhering to the highest standards of internationally recognised accreditation systems and our collaboration with British Standards (BSI) has been very successful. Some institutions are not using the MSA logo yet but I’m sure they’ll come on board soon, now that we are also certified by an institution that is well-recognised overseas.”
British High Commissioner Nick Archer said they were delighted that this project went so well. “BSI is one of the most respected brands in Britain, and as long as Britain and Malta stay close together on technical and professional standards we will both reap the benefits.”
BSI is a non-profit distributing organisation that is independent of government, industry and trade associations.
It employs more than 2,000 staff in 86 countries in the manufacturing and services industries, businesses and governments to put into place the standards, system assessment and registration, product testing and certification, and training infrastructure that enables companies to compete effectively in the European and international market places. BSI is also a leading developer of Eurcodes standards.
During the conference, 12 ISO 9001 certificate holders were presented with the new version of the MSA Certificate, incorporating the logo of the United Kingdom Accreditation Service next to MSA’s. Among the companies awarded these new certificates were Guttenberg Press, Playmobil, FM Environmental, Universal Import and Export Ltd, Electronic Products Ltd. and the International Translation Agency.