Quality Policy Principles: Ownership

Why is Ownership important?

Although the benefits accrue to, and responsibilities are owned by, all the actualization of a value adding and continuously relevant QP requires that a specific ministry be mandated to take the leadership role and be accountable for such an initiative, recognizing the need to address political ownership, administrative, regulatory and technical issues. A logical choice, given its responsibilities related to the WTO TBT, SPS and Trade Facilitation Agreements and the regional counterparts, is the ministry responsible for trade. The same ministry normally has overarching responsibility for many of the QI institutions in the public sector. Another potential candidate is the ministry responsible for government planning and the overall coordination of the government budget. In some countries, a ministry of science and technology is responsible for the QI institutions in the public sector, rather than a trade ministry. In other countries, the government may choose to house all QI elements and QP aspects in a single agency. All of this indicates that the responsibility as lead ministry for the implementation of the national QP needs careful consideration by the relevant ministries and approval at the highest political levels. Once agreed and formally decided, this responsibility should be clearly stated in the QP.