Mr. Zakari Oumarou Abdoul-Kader, Director General of the Agence Nigérienne De Normalisation, De Métrologie Et De Certification (ANMC): "The Right To Use The Conformity Logo Is Granted Only To Local And Imported Products That Are Verified As Compliant With The Standards And Technical Regulations In Force In The Republic Of Niger                                                                                                                                                       Mr. Director General, can you explain to our readers what the ANMC is and what are the main missions assigned to it?

The Nigerian Agency for Standardization, Metrology and Certification (ANMC) is a Public Establishment of an administrative nature, it is created by Decree No. 2019-409/PRN/MI of July 26, 2019. It is placed under the supervision of the Ministry in charge of Industry. We are located in our own premises at the Village de la Francophonie in Niamey. In accordance with its founding decree, the missions assigned to the ANMC are: the development of standards; the monitoring of measures; the control of regulated measuring instruments and the assessment of product conformity. In detail, the development of standards consists in coordinating the national activities of standards development in all sectors (agri-food, environment, building materials, hydrocarbon, quality management, chemical, etc.) and ensuring their availability to the target public in order to improve the living and working conditions of our fellow citizens. In this sense, a standard is a consensual document, resulting from agreements between producers, users and public authorities in order to simplify, unify or specify a product or a service. Thus, in 2020 we have developed 17 Nigerian standards and this year 21 standards are being approved and 58 will be developed this year. Today we have a directory of Nigerien standards (178). All these standards can also be consulted in our Standards Documentation Center. Also, we are members of sub-regional and international standardization organizations such as ISO, ARSO, SMIIC, ECOSHAM, PTB, and we actively participate in the work of their Technical Committees.

As for the measurements and the control of the regulated measuring instruments: they consist in using our standard tools to check in particular the conformity of the measuring instruments used in the commercial transactions such as the probes of temperature, scales, balances etc. at the level of the health center (thermometer, scales, tensiometer etc.) Gasoline pumps, volumetric pumps at the economic operators, scales, weighing scales and weighbridges, pre-packaged goods, including bags of rice, bags of cement and gas bottles and verification and others at the economic operators. We are also in the process of starting the verification of water and electricity meters.

By the way, Mr. General Manager, what is the interest of using the logo of the mark of conformity among economic operators and also for consumers?

The Nigerian mark of conformity is a major asset at the service of businesses. It brings an indisputable proof to the consumers of the regular verification of the intrinsic quality of the product or services put at their disposal, this makes it possible to gain their confidence because the product meets their needs and that it is in conformity with the characteristics of safety which does not present any danger for the human health and the environment under the conditions envisaged for its use. The evaluation of the conformity of the products consists in making available to the economic operators the right to use the logo of the Nigerian mark of conformity. It is an important tool for trade because it reassures the consumer on the quality of the product which is at his disposal.

To whom precisely is the right to use the Nigerien mark of conformity logo attributed?

The use of the logo is attributed to products and services that have been certified. That is to say: following the request of the customer, quality audits are carried out on the production site and if necessary analyses are carried out in independent laboratories on the samples of the products. Subsequently, examinations are carried out by an independent committee (impartiality committee) of certification to verify the conformity of the product or services to the particular regulations, reference frame of certification. During the examination, the committee uses, of course, the reports of the audits and the results of the analyses from the laboratories.

What are the criteria on which the Nigerian Agency for Standardization, Metrology and Certification bases its decision to make available to economic operators the right to use the said logo?                                                                                                                                                                   The criteria used by the agency's experts depend on the type of product, but they are all derived from national, regional and international standards. National regulations related to the product or service are also used.

Apart from the 46 Processing Units that have recently received their certificates of conformity, are there others that have already received these certificates?

Indeed, in 2020, which is our first year of activity, we have certified 8 products and in 2021, apart from the 46 recent ones, we have certified 6 products that have met the criteria

Mr. Director General, are there any sanctions planned by the ANMC against processing units that do not respect their commitments?

The certified products are regularly monitored in the production unit and on the national market. This monitoring allows to follow the quality of the product during the certification period in order to ensure that the producer continues to produce it under good hygienic conditions. In case of non-compliance with the commitments it is foreseen, the withdrawal of the right to use the logo of the mark and the consumer can check on our website and other magazines the updated list of certified products. It should also be noted that administrative sanctions are provided for products and services deemed harmful to consumers

Directed by Aïchatou Hamma Wakasso(onep)