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Director of State Agency for Standardization, Metrology and Patents: Petrol produced in Azerbaijan does not meet European standards

26 January 2007 12:06 (UTC +04:00)

Director of State Agency for Standardization, Metrology and Patents Ramiz Hasanov interviewed by the APA

- How do appreciate last yearâ€™s overall results?
- We implemented some structural changes in the sphere of standardization last year and established Azerbaijani Standardization Institute. The staff schedule of the Institute is ready and it will start its work in a week. Standardization Institute will conduct monitoring on application of standards. Application of international standards will be determined according to this monitoring. The Institute will also work on application of national standards on some products belonging to Azerbaijan. Experiment Center of the Institute is expected to be established.
- How many standards were adopted in general in 2006?
- We can translate any European standard and get them adopted. But hasty transition to European standards may cause stagnation in engineering and other spheres. I must say that the number of standards adopted last year is more in comparison with that of previous years. The collection of standards â€œCodex Alimentariusâ€? covering food industry in the European Union were included in Azerbaijan Standards Fund. We will accept about 430 standards as national standards. We accepted ISO 9000 standard as national standard recently, now it is called AZ 9001 ISO. We have included 41 Azerbaijani national standards, 85 standards of CIS Interstate Council, 60 Russian, 26 Turkish standards, 15 standards of Kazakhstan, 20 of Belarus, 4 of Uzbekistan and 2 of Moldova in our national fund. Besides, 167 technical terms were adopted. We announced our motto last year: â€œThe language of international trade is standardâ€?.
- One of the dimensions of your agency is metrology. But no improvement can be observed in this sphereâ€¦
- You are not right. Great attention is paid to metrology. We plan to establish Scientific Institute of Metrology this year. Model Center the first in the South Caucasus and Central Asia was established last year. We had many difficulties while the center was being established. We have signed 9 contracts with the US and Sweden for bringing 9 models to Azerbaijan. Neighbouring countries will be able to examine their working models in future. We are holding negotiations with international organization â€œCometâ€? for recognition of this center.
- There are a number of international standardization organizations in the world. Which of them do you cooperate with?
- Azerbaijan is a full member of International Standards Organization (ISO). ISO Secretary General Alan Brian will pay a visit to Azerbaijan on March 1 at our invitation. A seminar will be held with the participation of ISO leadership. Azerbaijan takes an active part in standardization sphere and is the first country that has established National Technical Committee for Social Responsibility with ISOâ€™s support. We also participated in the 30th meeting of CIS Interstate Council for Standardization, Certification and Metrology in Kazakhstan. CIS countries positively appreciate our return to the organization. Our representatives take an active part in relevant committees of the Council. We have prepared several international agreements.
- What countries will these agreements be signed with?
- Draft agreement between Azerbaijan and Korea on Cooperation on standardization, certification, metrology and accreditation is ready. We have close cooperation with Korea in intellectual properties field. The representatives of Korean National Intellectual Properties will pay a visit to Azerbaijan on January 29. Korean and World Intellectual Properties will contribute to establish Intellectual Properties Information Center in Baku. Besides, one more draft agreement with Germany is being worked out. We are deeply concerned in Germanyâ€™s experience in metrological field. We improve cooperation with international organizations in patent field. The memorandum with World Intellectual Properties Organization gives us 2 places in the academy of the organization to train professions.
- Non-standard products still nominate the market. What measures are being taken against it?
- We monitored enterprises to determine the quality of products last year. 51 enterprises producing non-standard products were closed. The results of 251 examinations from 1297 were negative. The production of 123 kinds of goods was forbidden. 193 kinds of goods were withdrawn. Law-quality products dangerous for life and health worth AZN100 000, including 219 thousand liters of non-alcoholic drinks, 5.7 thousand liters of juice, 2.8 thousand of tones confectionaries, 0.9 tones of sausages, 1.7 tones of milk products, 5.3 tones of flour and bread products, 2 tones of sugar, 1 tone of ice-cream and 10 000 tones of alcoholic drinks were seized and destroyed. Cases of production and selling of law-qualified goods were delivered to the law-enforcement agencies.
- How satisfactory are financial penalties on the cases?
- The maximal financial penalty is AZN250. We impose the penalties to both enterprise and its leadership. Just imagine that a big enterprise produces law-qualified products worth millions of manat. Financial penalty in AZN500 is nothing for it. President assigned to reconsider the penalties we have already prepared our proposals on the issue. One of our proposals is that enterprise should be fined in amount of total cost of law-qualified goods it produces. If an enterprise produces goods worth AZN1m, it should be imposed a penalty in this amount.
- When will products of law-quality be prevented?
- The prevention of production and selling of goods of law-quality doesnâ€™t depend on just us or some state organization. It is very hard to control all the enterprises. We donâ€™t even know the location of some enterprises as false addresses are shown it labels. Unfortunately, purchasers donâ€™t defend their rights.
- Recently during the monitoring in filling station hinders to the pumps have recordedâ€¦
- Before the pumps used to be sealed by different means. But then we found out that they hinder the seals by heating the needle, etc. that is why we apply new method â€“coded seals. These seals are very fragile and can be broken when touched. But we have some definite problems concerning them. We have information that somebody booked one-off coded seals and wants to bring to country. That is why we have begun to apply featured coded seals. These seals are very accurate and no-one can counterfeit them. Even our specialist does not know the code of the seal.
- It was found out that the products of the plants producing reinforcements and construction materials do not meet the standards. Have you solved this problem?
- We stooped the producing of reinforcements for some time in â€œBaku-Steel Company. They were allowed to production after the problem was solved. We banned the production of one more plant engaged in the production of reinforcements.
- There are some products that do not meet the standards. Do you think of establishing test center?
- These problems occur mostly with electron apparatus. Test centers should be established for us to test them before using. But we have not opportunity yet. Great of cars in our country does not meet European standard and that is why they are not allowed to Europe countries. Even our petrol does answer European standards. We have made our proposals to the government and now they are being considered. /APA/