Dubai Industrial City, a member of TECOM Investments, today announced the Centre for Industrial Standards (Maqayees) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Emirates Authority for Standardization and Metrology (ESMA), a UAE federal government organisation, to jointly formulate training and development programmes in quality, measurement and standards for manufacturing companies in the UAE.
Rashed Al Ansari, Vice-President of Dubai Industrial City, and Eng. Mohamed Badri, Acting Director-General, ESMA, signed the MoU in Dubai in the presence of high-ranking officials from both organisations.
According to the agreement, ESMA and Maqayees will cooperate and work towards applying state-approved standard specifications by developing a suitable mechanism as well as raising awareness of the importance of adopting quality and measurement systems and standards.
Both organisations will additionally exchange documents, information, studies, research and scientific papers, utilizing Dubai Quality Mark and Emirates Quality Mark for enhancing quality and competitive business advantage for manufacturing units in the UAE. The Dubai Quality Mark is a risk-based integrated Quality, Health, Safety and Environmental (QHSE) management system model pioneered by Dubai Industrial City.
Eng. Mohamed Badri said: “The MoU marks the beginning of a long-term relationship with Dubai Industrial City’s Maqayees. The agreement also concurs with ESMA’s strategic plan aimed at supporting the national economy by establishing a new era of excellence and quality among the public and private sector organisations.”
Al Ansari said: “Dubai Industrial City is dedicated to developing and implementing sophisticated QHSE management systems as part of its overall mission. Through Maqayees, we also aim to ensure products manufactured by companies in the destination comply with GCC and global standards. ESMA shares our objectives at the national-level and we are proud to partner with the federal organisation to raise customer protection levels through technical cooperation.”
The MoU will bring better synergy to the operations of both organisations, facilitating mutual cooperation to create an environment conducive to the production of premium quality products and global standards within the manufacturing units in the UAE.
In order to follow up application of the specifications related to the Dubai Quality MarkTM, joint mechanisms will be set up by the two organisations. Maqayees will be responsible for participating in drafting regulations, systems and guide documents in QHSE management systems, which are to be issued by ESMA.
Assessors from Maqayees will be utilized whenever necessary by ESMA for Emirates Quality Mark assessments. The Dubai Centre for Industrial Standards will also aim to administer the Dubai Quality MarkTM assessment and certification schemes within the UAE, in cooperation with ESMA.
On its part, ESMA will facilitate easier, faster and cost effective Emirates Quality Mark product certification for manufacturing organizations located within Dubai Industrial City since they already comply with the DQM management system certification requirements.
Established by a Federal decree in 2001, ESMA aims to support the national economy through the scientific progress of standards and quality management control, and educate the community on standardisation and metrology activities. ESMA seeks to achieve its objectives through establishing standards, metrology, accreditation, conformity assessment, information centre, as well as HR and finance departments in addition to the technical office.
ESMA specializes in preparing, approving, publishing, reviewing, modifying, issuing and adapting standards and technical regulations, as well as establishing a national measurement system (NMS) in the country. It also aims to establish a national metrology institute (NMI) and activate the legal metrology activities in the UAE.
Maqayees, Dubai Centre for Industrial Standards, is an entity of Dubai Industrial City that was launched for developing integrated management system models to assist businesses in meeting QHSE standards and foster growth with a high level of social commitment.
