TISI sets new AEC goal

TISI sets new AEC goal

Plan for 2,000 new standards by 2015

The Thai Industrial Standards Institute (TISI) plans to develop over 2,000 new standards for products over the next five years to cope with upcoming regional economic integration.

"With the start of the Asean Economic Community (AEC) in 2015, standards will become an even more important issue, especially in the auto parts, electronics and electrical appliances sectors," said secretary-general Chaiyong Krittapholchai.

The agency's goal is to develop standards in high-demand sectors for the next four years.

Some 2,235 standards were proposed by various industrial sectors and TISI believes over 80% can be accomplished by 2015, according to a questionnaire.

Businesses want to enforce industrial standards as a way of curbing imports of cheap and often substandard goods from countries such as China. Some 168 new standards were requested by the auto parts sector, 244 from machinery, 103 from processed agriculture, 297 from electrical appliances, 478 from electronics, 101 from energy and environmental conservation, 118 from rubber and rubber products and 478 from information and communication technology segments.

"Products need to adapt with changing technology, as the market will demand increased quality," said Mr Chaiyong, who admitted Thai laboratories need to be prepared to make quality checks.

TISI, which acts as a facilitator by bringing together producers, consumers and academics to gather opinions for develop standards, usually develops around 150-160 standards per year, and the target of over 2,000 standards would usually take almost 30 years, said Mr Chaiyong.

There are currently 2,822 standards under TISI.

TISI will be aided by 10 network organisations, including the National Electronics and Computer Technology Center (Nectec), the Engineering Institute of Thailand, the Occupational Health and Safety At Work Association and the National Nanotechnology Center to speed up the process of developing standards.

TISI has three certification bodies and will add the Management System Certification Institute (Thailand), the Electrical and Electronics Institute and SGS (Thailand) Ltd in the future.

"Small and medium-sized enterprises will have to adapt or they won't be able to compete," he said.