Quality Policy Principles: Coherence

Why is coherence important?

  • Governments have an inherent responsibility to promote the economic well-being of their citizens, ensure their safety and health, and protect the environment in which they live. Unfortunately, remedies that include regulation have frequently evolved in an ad hoc way. This leads to fragmentation, with many overlaps amongst regulatory authorities and gaps resulting in non-compliance with the World Trade Organization (WTO) TBT, SPS and TFA Agreements and regional trade agreements. Often many ministries are involved, each working according to its own understanding and adopting sometimes conflicting practices in pursuing its individual mandates due to an absence of more definitive national guidelines. The resultant systems and processes that are increasingly related to increasing trade are often ineffective, inefficient and add significantly to the transaction costs incurred by producers and suppliers, often rendering their products or produce uncompetitive.
  • National, inter and intra-regional efforts to establish and maintain a QI also need to include its integration with, and support of, trade and investment policies, enterprise competitiveness and national business environment reform, affordability, and sustainability and environmental impacts, including national and regional climate change adaptation and mitigation needs. It is vital therefore that, during the development of an QP, the issue of more coherent policy making is adequately addressed. Appropriate attention to appropriate organizational separation of mandatory, and voluntary activities, encouraging stakeholder and organizational buy-in, and subsequent adherence related activities is also required.