On May 12 and 13 a conference on quality management will be held in San Jose which will focus on the sectors of health and safety.
From a statement issued by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry:
San Jose April 28, 2016. The Ministry of Economy, Industry and Commerce (MEIC), as rector of the National Council for Quality and technical bodies made up of: the National Agency for Standardization (INTECO), the Technical Regulation Body (ORT), the Costa Rican Metrology Laboratory (LACOMET) and the Costa Rican Accreditation Entity (ECA), is promoting the First International Conference on Quality, on May 12 and 13 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel Corobici.
The event will be held on August 25th and 26th in Guatemala City and will deal with issues related to quality systems and accessing markets with GlobalGAP certifications.
From a statement issued by the Guatemalan Exporters Association (Agexport):
Managing occupational risks, voluntary agreements for improving the environmental services, and best practices for reducing costs, are some of the central issues which will be addressed at the 2014 International Congress on Quality.
The Ministry of Public Works and the Salvadoran Accreditation Agency have signed an agreement to establish laboratories for analysing materials.
This Convention seeks to improve the service of duly accredited laboratories and those registered in the geotechnical and materials areas who provide services to the construction sector.
"The agreement is indefinite and has as its main objective determining the conditions in terms of accreditation to the OSA, and the registration and inscription of Geotechnical and Materials Laboratories with the MOP and ensuring technical competence of geotechnical and materials laboratories for the preparation of studies when carrying out projects authorized by the MOP, municipalities and decentralized technical offices empowered to authorize public and private works projects in the country. "
The new installations will carry out physical, chemical and microbiological analysis in order to ensure the safety of each product.
From a press release issued by the Government of El Salvador:
The Government of the Republic today inaugurated a modern laboratory for quality control of medicines,, considered by experts as one of the most modern in Central America and which will ensure the efficacy and safety of all medicines sold in the country.
"Global Gap" and "Fair Trade", are the most required certifications when exporting agricultural products.
From an article by the Costa Rican Foreign Trade Promotion Office (PROCOMER):
The most sought after quality seals this year by the major agricultural export markets are Global Gap, which applies to fruits and vegetables, and Fair Trade, which ensures companies are socially responsible, said Armando Bonifaz, specialist in certifications marks and general manager of the certifying entity BCS OKO Garantie.
A standard for quality indicators in cold chains describes the quality management system of an organization that wants to demonstrate its ability to continuously supply high quality cold chain services.
CCQI, the Cold Chain Quality Indicator, is a benchmarking system that accesses the logistics capacity of a cold chain in order to maintain a certain temperature during transportation and handling of perishable temperature sensitive products (PTSP).
The country has begun to increase the application of a regulation, which states that imported organic products must be certified by Chinese standards.
From a press release by Procomer:
According to the Department of Agriculture of the United States, many exporters of fresh produce to China will soon have to remove the word "organic" from labels on their food, because some officials in the Asian country have begun to increase the application of a regulation , which states that imported organic products must be certified by Chinese standards.
A regional program will support the quality and application of sanitary and phytosanitary measures.
In order to improve access for Central American products to markets the creation of a standardized and internationally recognized Regional System for Quality and Application of SPS Measures has been proposed.
A communiqué from the Central American Economic Integration Secretariat reads:
Costa Rican farmers must implement food safety measures if they want to continue exporting to the U.S.
From 2013 farmers who export bananas, pineapples and other fruits must employ quality control systems and proper food handling if they want to continue selling their products in the U.S.
The new regulations to be implemented by the U.S. establish certain requirements which must be met, for example, by banana producers from Costa Rica, who in 2010 alone exported $343 million worth to that country.
The government of El Salvador created the Salvadoran National Quality Award and Recognition of Best Practices, to encourage the pursuit of excellence in products and services.
The launch of the Salvadoran Award for Quality is part of the State Modernization Program and aims to promote the establishment of systems for quality management and continuous improvement in products and services, both in public and private organizations.
The European Union and Salvadoran government have joined forces to set up a National Quality System.
The aim is to implement a system that guarantees the quality of products manufactured in El Salvador through a law to be approved by the Legislative Assembly.
This system was developed by the Vice Ministry of Cooperation in development and the Economy Minister and will have a budget of 12.1 million euros provided by the EU over four years.
A program in El Salvador will train micro, small and medium companies on the quality standards required by large corporations.
The project will also provide training for delegates of large companies on how to make business with SMEs.
Elsalvador.com published statements by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) representative in the country, Jessica Faieta: "The team in charge of the project is located in the offices of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry... UNDP will provide $1 million to start the project".