The NSAI’s (National Standards Authority of Ireland) Annual Report for 2010 was published this week, and reports on a concentration on standards and trade measurement enforcement by the state agency. The Authority focused its efforts in 2010 on taxi meters, petrol pumps and retail outlets.
During 2010, inspectors from the NSAI’s Legal Metrology Services visited almost 4,000 trader’s premises and tested more than 17,000 measuring instruments such as supermarket weighing scales, taxi meters and instruments where the charge or cost to consumers is dependent on accurate measurement. As part of this nationwide programme, more than 9,000 trade measuring instruments at the point of use were tested to ensure they were accurate and compliant with legal requirements. In addition, almost 8,000 fuel pumps at 1,300 service stations were also inspected. More than 2,000 warnings, which require corrective action such as minor adjustments or recalibration of equipment, were issued to traders; 1,400 of these were issued for fuel pumps.
However, Labour Party TD for Dublin South East, Mr Kevin Humphreys, was less enthusiastic about the findings of the report.
"The news today that 20 per cent of petrol pumps were found to be giving out the wrong amount of fuel is worrying for already-stretched consumers. If people are being defrauded in this industry, we must look at measures to protect hard-hit families. People must be certain that they are getting what they are paying for,” said Mr Humphreys. "I intend to raise this issue with the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise, & Innovation who has responsibility for the NSAI when the Dáil resumes. We should look at ensuring each petrol pump displays prominently in an authorised certificate when it was last calibrated to provide consumers with the confidence they need,” he said.
"The National Standards Authority of Ireland (NSAI) has done excellent work investigating what is either negligence or fraud on the part of station operators. From the figures released in the NSAI annual report it is clear that more needs to be done."
According to the report, there were 13 prosecutions taken for non-compliance, where a trader did not take appropriate corrective action following a warning, with 10 of these resulting in conviction. However, each of these prosecutions was related to non-compliant taxi meters. The report states that the level of warnings and prosecutions underlines the effectiveness of the compliance culture within the economy, underpinned by NSAI inspections.
Speaking at the launch of the Annual Report, Ann Riordan, Chairperson of the NSAI, said: “Like many organisations and businesses, NSAI has had to adapt to challenging circumstances in the last few years, becoming more flexible, relevant and responsive to our industry and consumers’ needs. We continue to focus on our core objectives of enabling enterprise and protecting consumers.
“We are pleased to report that our revenues increased in 2010 and that our focus on cost savings and efficiencies resulted in a surplus in our year-end accounts. In addition, our clients are seeing the benefits of accredited certification and standards for their organisations, including improved financial performance, higher customer satisfaction, protected and enhanced reputations, winning new and retaining existing customers, and increased stakeholder confidence.”
Almost 4,000 traders, including retailers, service stations and other traders who conduct transactions on the basis of measurements, were inspected nationwide to support their compliance with Legal Metrology Legislation. This legislation obliges the user of a measuring instrument to ensure that it conforms to an approved design, is accurate and is secured against unauthorised or fraudulent adjustment.
An additional 50,000 measuring instrument verifications were carried out by NSAI authorised third party verifiers which included taxi meters, weighing equipment and drinks dispensers used in the licensed trade.
To ensure the allocation of resources to the point of greatest need, the NSAI says it moved from a time interval based inspection system to one based on risk analysis of trading sectors and measuring instrument types.
NSAI’s CEO, Mr Maurice Buckley, said: “Consumers remain at the heart of our work, since standards will always affect the public directly or indirectly. One of the highlights from the high number of inspection tests carried out is the fact that there is a good level of compliance by Ireland’s traders, be it in taxi meters, petrol pumps or retail weighing scales. Out of the 4,000 traders visited, just 13 necessitated escalation to prosecution in court. This clearly demonstrates that active enforcement encourages a strong commitment to compliance by traders who understand the value of their reputation as an honest trader to the public.”
Enabling Trade and Enterprise Through Standards
The report stated that, in helping lift Irish business performance, drive opportunities in new markets and support best practices, NSAI has published over 1,600 standards. In addition, Irish businesses purchased over 12,000 standards from NSAI, with the top 10 standards accounting for 20 per cent of sales.
The report also states that the Code of Practice for Corporate Governance Assessment in Ireland published during 2010 is the first standard of its kind in Europe. Developed by NSAI and the Institute of Directors in Ireland, it was designed to deliver improvement in corporate governance practices in Irish-based companies. SEAI was the first company to apply for certification, and was successful in achieving certification in early 2011 after meeting the SWiFT requirements.
Fastest Certification Time for Medical Devices in Europe
The NSAI report states that it continued to drive life sciences in line with government policy, through its expert medical devices division at its Dublin head office, complementing their US activities out of Nashua, New Hampshire. As a result of a comprehensive restructuring, NSAI streamlined certification process timescales by up to 50 per cent, giving device manufacturers the competitive edge they need to get their product to market quickly in the 115 billion euro global medical devices industry. The NSAI certification process is now an industry leading four to six weeks, says the report, while the NSAI has tripled its medical device clients since 2006.
“Ireland is now the second-largest exporter of medical products in Europe, behind only Germany,” says Mr Buckley. “There are currently 200 medical technology companies in Ireland, exporting 7.2 billion euro worth of product annually and employing more than 25,000 people. NSAI has further extended and deepened our engagements with key bodies and companies in Ireland, helping them to position themselves, and Ireland Inc, to lead in this sector.”
Energy Management
By the end of 2010, NSAI had certified over 35 large scale industry sites, such as Diageo, Heinz, Eli Lilly and Pfizer, in energy management. These large scale industry sites represent 80 per cent of the largest energy-using firms based in Ireland, one of the highest take-ups in the world in energy management standards, and have avoided more than 50 million euro in energy costs.
“NSAI continues to play a vital role in the business agenda, providing essential protection for consumers. Against a backdrop of economic uncertainty, the results and deliverables outlined are testament to our focused customer engagement strategy and bodes well for our ongoing development plans in 2011, highlighting NSAI’s growing reputation as a centre of excellence right on the doorstep of Europe,” said Mr Buckley.
