Selection criteria for standards development

The factors that are taken into account when deciding whether to produce a standard or not are:

• Envisaged use of the standard, i.e. whether for regulatory, purchasing, certification, import of export purpose.

• Envisaged benefits of the standard such as economic, commercial, safety, health, environment, market access, etc.

• The feasibility of implementing the standard once it is published, the factors considered are availability of testing equipment, qualified technicians to perform the tests and competent inspectors for certification purposes.

• Whether there is any information available in the form of international, regional, foreign, national and company standards.

• Whether the Standard Development Section has the resources to facilitate the project.

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SAZ STANDARDS AND REGULATIONS

Some of SAZ standards for example, food standards are used as precursors to regulations while others are referred to in regulations. For example, the government regulations requiring the wearing of seat belts in motorcars refer to a SAZ standard. The Model Building By-Laws refer to nearly 40 SAZ standards. In an effort to avoid unnecessary duplication of work and to ensure that Zimbabwean regulations are aligned to international standards, SAZ encourages the referral of its standards in technical regulations.

SAZ STANDARDS UPDATE

This bi-annual publication lists the standards projects which the SAZ is working on. Click here to download the latest full text (PDF)

_{4General Information     4Target users of standards     4Why get involved?     4Developing standards   4Selection criteria...}