EU to complete projects on standardization, metrology in Albania

TIRANA, April 7 – The European Union said it would wrap up in a couple of months two technical assistance projects in support of Albania’s standardization, certification, accreditation and metrology systems worth a total of 2.5 million euro ($3.3 million).
“Both projects were launched a couple of years ago and are due to be completed in one to two months,” Artes Butka, spokeswoman of the European Commission delegation in Tirana.
The projects are aimed at improving the Albanian quality infrastructure. The first project worth 1.3 million euro helped the country draft a metrology strategy plan aimed at making effective the national system of metrology. Five accredited test laboratories were opened in the country under the second project which cost 1.2 million euro.
“Metrology, standardisation and accreditation are three key pillars of the quality infrastructure, and industry and trade cannot function without them. Among the most significant technical barriers to trade in Albania are the difficulties that local producers have had in meeting technical standards and certifying their products for export,” the European Commission delegation in Tirana said in a statement on the occasion of an international conference in Tirana marking the final phase of the projects.
Albania currently has 40 companies certified under the requirements of ISO 9001:2000 standards. ISO certificates are considered a major means helping the Albanian businesses expand export and raise competitiveness in the foreign markets.
“The Free Movement of Goods of the Stabilization is the first and one of the most important chapters in the EU Acquis [EU rules] and its implementation by Albania is largely dependent on a fully functioning and operational quality infrastructure,” the head of the European Commission delegation in Tirana Helmuth Lohan said.
The EU will call later this month a tender to award a contract worth up to 800,000 euro tender on the development of the country’s accreditation and standardization institutions. Albania signed a Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) with the EU in June. The agreement is considered a major prerequisite for the consideration of a country’s eligibility for EU accession.