RWANDA BUREAU OF STANDARDS Newsletter - …

1 RWANDA BUREAU OF STANDARDS . Newsletter January - March 2011 / Newsletter 1. Quarterly Newsletter Issue 10 January-March 2011. Get Connected to the World of Quality, Reliability, Durability, Competitiveness and Business growth through STANDARDS Compliance! RBS, OGMR and BGR. Combine Efforts to Certify RWANDA Minerals Certification Services: Directory of Certified Products with RBS Mark of Excellence (E-Mark). Boosting SME Development: Technical Assistance to Quality Rice Processing Box 7099 Kigali- RWANDA Tel:+250 586 1003 Fax: +250 583 305 Table of Contents Contents FOREWORD 3. RBS, OGMR and BGR Combine Efforts to Certify RWANDA Minerals 4. Social Responsibility Standard Launched! 6. Certification Services: Directory of Certified Products with RBS Mark of Excellence (E-Mark) 6. Certification Services: Directory of Certified Products with Standardization Mark (S-Mark) 7.

2 RWANDA BUREAU of STANDARDS (RBS) visited Rice Processing Units in Bugarama 8. INTERVIEWS WITH RICE PROCESSORS 9. Cassava and Potato Products STANDARDS Available 12. RWANDA BUREAU Of STANDARDS Work Program January To June 2011 14. STANDARDS IN PROGRESS 15. Safety STANDARDS for Liquefied Petroleum Gases (LPGs) 22. LIST OF REJECTED GOODS (January to March 2011) 24. Awareness on Quality Inspections: What is an Electronic Waste? 26. POTENTIAL LONG - TERM EFFECTS OF ETHANOL 28. Food Packaging Key Role In Food Preservation, Storage Stability And Marketing 32. RWANDA participated in ISO Carbon Footprint Workshop 36. Small Volume Calibrations at RWANDA BUREAU of STANDARDS 37. Customer Focus: Our Strategy to Help you Grow your Business through STANDARDS 38. January - March 2011 / Newsletter 3. Dear Readers, FOREWORD.

3 I. t is my pleasure to welcome you to the 10th issue of the Quarterly Newsletter of RWANDA BUREAU of STANDARDS . This issue contains useful information on activities that marked the Standardization areas from January to March 2011. Major questions asked always relate to the safety of products on our market; do they meet quality STANDARDS , and how far are we going to enable our products'. competitiveness globally? This issue brings the achievements in standardization interventions completed by the BUREAU . Certification of the Rwandan products to foster competitiveness internationally makes the headlines. In addition to the directories of certified products with the RBS Mark of Excellence (E-mark) and the Standardization Mark (S-mark), we report the combined efforts of the BUREAU with relevant institutions and the progress registered to certify RWANDA Minerals.

4 Our commitment targets a continually growing STANDARDS compliant business environment. We report three new approved RWANDA STANDARDS that are regarded as a paramount addition to STANDARDS dedicated to priority sectors of our economy. While their relevancy to provision of quality products and services is herein fully described, we are grateful to all stakeholders who contribute technical input in developing and approving STANDARDS . During the quarter, RBS and the German International Cooperation (GIZ) continued the training campaign aimed at Certification of Rwandan products in order to increase their market access. The campaign targeted the product sectors of milk and milk products and juice where some of the stakeholders were trained on Food Safety Management System (FSMS ISO 22000) and others on Quality Management Systems (QMS, ISO 9001).

5 Enabling Rwandan SME. development through technical assistance is our concern. The quarter saw RBS conducting a visit to Rice Processing Units in Bugarama to monitor and assess their compliance to Quality STANDARDS so as to promote competitiveness of RWANDA rice. In this issue, we bring to our readers' attention the STANDARDS Development Program from January to June 2011. This is done in the framework of enforcing the World Trade Organization (WTO). agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) and Sanitary and Phyto-Sanitary (SPS) measures. The agreement stipulates that every Standardization Body has to publish its Work Program at least once every six months; which RBS has been doing. RBS Quarterly Newsletter sticks to being a STANDARDS education instrument. This issue contains information on Electronic Wastes, Safety STANDARDS for Liquefied Petroleum Gases (LPGs) and Biodegradable Packaging for environmental protection.

6 Please enjoy reading this issue and know more of what is done in the standardization sector in the quest for doing business, public safety and protection of the environment. Dr. Mark Cyubahiro Bagabe Director General 4 RWANDA BUREAU of STANDARDS RBS, OGMR and BGR. Combine Efforts to Certify RWANDA Minerals The exploitation and trade Production Chain audit and Resources (RINR; referred to as of Minerals within the entire the joint technical work carried the Initiative) particularly aims Great Lakes Region has been out, two Mining Companies at breaking the link between internationally perceived to be namely: Rutongo Mines Limited mineral revenues and rebel conducted illegally. Accordingly, and Wolfram Mining and financing. the wealth derived from natural Processing Limited were found The Initiative operates six resources is reported to be complying to the CTC STANDARDS specific tools in its effort to unequally distributed and often and were awarded Certificates curb the illegal exploitation of used to finance rebel activities of CTC Compliance (CoC) for natural resources in the Great which further destabilize the the first time during the two- Lakes Region.

7 This approach Region. To put the matter day Conference on Mineral was designed by the ICGLR. into proper perspective, Certification and Supply Chain Conference Secretariat and the Ministry of Forestry and with Due Diligence in RWANDA thereafter officially approved by Mines, in collaboration with and the Great Lakes Region the eleven Heads of State of the the Office de la G ologie held at Kigali starting 17th March ICGLR Member States. et Mines (OGMR), invited 2011. Regional Certification foreign third party companies In addition to these companies, Mechanism is the key tool especially the Bundesanstalt four Mining Companies were f r Geowissenschaften und Mineral Certification is the awarded Certificate of CTC. Rohstoffe (BGR) to work on core tool of the Initiative;. Progress and were encouraged the traceability of the Mineral the Regional Certification to improve their systems in Production Chain and thereafter Mechanism implies the tracking order to acquire CoC as soon as certify competent Firms in a bid of the chain of custody of four possible.

8 The four companies to facilitate trade in this sector. selected natural resources, include: Pyramides , RWANDA BUREAU of STANDARDS namely Cassiterite, Wolframite, Gatumba Mining Concession (RBS), being a Certification Body, Limited, Natural Resources came into the equation to certify Development ( RWANDA ). Mining Companies that proved Limited-Rutsiro and Natural to be compliant to Good Mining Resources Development Practices. ( RWANDA ) Limited-Nemba. Following RWANDA Government The Work Done Conforms the commitment to engage Regional Mineral Certification International Best Practices Initiative Requirements in her Mineral Business, a This certification work that was Tripartite Memorandum of carried out is in line with the Understanding (MoU) was International Conference on signed among the Office de the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR).

9 La G ologie et des Mines au Mineral Certification Initiative. RWANDA (OGMR), RWANDA BUREAU of STANDARDS (RBS) The ICGR is a Great Lakes inter- and Bundesanstalt f r governmental organization Geowissenschaften und composed of eleven member Rohstoffe (BGR). In March 2009, states, namely: Angola, Burundi, the first workshop to initiate Central African Republic, the Certified Trading Chain Republic of Congo, Democratic (CTC) process was held prior to Republic of Congo, Kenya, Baseline and Final Audits which Uganda, RWANDA , Sudan, were conducted by an external Tanzania and Zambia. The ICGLR. independent auditor supported has developed a comprehensive by BGR. approach to put an end to the claimed predatory use of natural The Certification Process was resources in the region. The carried out based on CTC.

10 Regional Initiative against the STANDARDS . As the result of the Illegal Exploitation of Natural external independent Mineral January - March 2011 / Newsletter 5. Coltan and Gold. Certifying and Tagging Minerals from the Region intends to improve transparency and good CTC STANDARDS are comprised of five main principals namely: governance in the extraction Transparency on Company Payments, Origin and Volumes of process, support compliance produced goods. with social STANDARDS , and counter illegal trade. Assurance of no practice of child labor, fair remuneration, continual improvement of work conditions, health and safety of In line with the Regional Initiative, the Government for all employees. of RWANDA has embarked on Assurance of security on company sites whilst respecting human Mineral Certification in order to rights add value to Mineral Business Companies are supposed to consult communities in which they in RWANDA as well as comply operate in order to contribute to their social, economic and with International STANDARDS for Market Access.