Last September 25, 2020, I had an opportunity to once again sit as the Impartiality Committee Chairman for a Product Certification Program (PCP) of a private company-based in the Philippines. The private company is providing product certification services to various African and Middle East countries which are meant to verify the goods exported to those countries such as from the Philippines, among others , conform to the local regulations and standards in those countries .
The objective of the PCP is to ensure that the certification decisions of the company are fair and are void of any tinge of partiality. Hence, the establishment of an impartiality mechanism that will minimize, if not totally remove, any hint of whatever bias there can be in any certification case. A decision to certify, or not to certify, a productcan make or break a trade transaction between trade parties, exporters and importers.
The Impartiality Committee acts as an oversight committee to the institution’s operations in this product certification service. I have acted as member and eventually, chairman of this committee for the last 4 years. I have never seen such a beautiful mechanism utilized bybusiness to maintain and ensure its integrity.
So how does this mechanism work?
The company ensures the impartiality of its certification activities through the implementation of a Code of Integrity and Professional Conduct, wherein it does not allow commercial, financial or other pressures to compromise impartiality nor discriminates against applicants based on the size or type of operations. All possible risks to impartiality are identified and courses of actions are defined so that those risks are mitigated whenever these arise along the certification process.
This committee which I chaired is made up of a balanced set of representatives of parties such as trade, consumer group, academe,and product experts. Our committee has no executive function and is not directly involved in the daily operations of the company and we do not receive any compensation for our roles in this committee. The committee has access to all the information necessary to enable it to fulfil its role. Fundamentally, the impartiality committee assists management in fostering confidence that the Product Conformity Assessment services are offered and provided with impartiality and independence.
Independent committee members are also responsible for reviewing new certificationpolicies proposed by the management, to ensure that such policies are fair to the clients and that they do not impose unreasonable requirements on any client or group of clients. Theindependent members shall advise against any tendency on the part of Management to allow commercial or other considerations that may prevent objective provision of the certification services.
In addition, the Committee’s members have the right to take independent action (e.g. informing authorities, accreditation bodies or stakeholders), taking into consideration to respect the confidentiality agreement. This right given to the committee is an indication ofthe significant power entrusted to it. Thus, in case of disputes or disagreements, wherein the committee’s inputs conflict with the operating procedures or other mandatory requirements, the institution may opt not to follow the mechanism’s input, but will still ensurethat measures are taken in order to address the committee’s concern in an alternative manner.A dream I wish all businesses operate in such professional and trustful manner.
At the end of the day, the company does not have any tangible product and only has its trust value and integrity through its reports and certificates as its end product. This is the reason why it has taken great pains to ensure that the trust value and integrity of its reports are safeguarded bymechanisms such as the Impartiality Committee. The company is aware that when trust andintegrity are lost, the businesswill likewise quickly godown the drain.
In our country, there are mechanismsresembling the PCP in a regulated scale. They arethe mandatory Product Standards (PS mark), and the Import Commodity Clearance certification(ICC.). Both programs are performed bythe government regulators. There have been technical studies, foreign grants and trainings in the past to devolve this function to the privatesector and transform the compliance to standards on voluntary basis. The plan includes an information and education campaign that involves all stakeholders including the consumers. I look forward to the full articulation of this planwhich will undoubtedly contribute to ease of doing business in the Philippines and ensuring products are safe in the hands of the consumers.
Atty. Vic Dimagiba is President of Laban Konsyumer Inc.
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