KATS to Address Exporters' Difficulties
The Korean Agency for Technology and Standards of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy held a conference on Oct. 16 with South Korean companies doing business in Vietnam, Indonesia and Uzbekistan. There, they discussed how to link the companies’ business with the agency’s official development assistance (ODA) project for standardization and certification system transfer.
The companies said at the conference that their export-related difficulties in those countries are mainly due to local standards different from international ones, test reports required by certain testing agencies and personnel shortage and old equipment at local testing sites. They asked the government to address the problems in the framework of the ODA project for standardization and certification infrastructure establishment and work on networking with the governments of the countries.
In response to their requests, the Korean Agency for Technology and Standards said that it would include measures against technological regulations in the ODA project.
That day, the agency also discussed the directions of the projects with the governments of the three countries. Specifically, the projects in Vietnam, Indonesia and Uzbekistan are related to photovoltaic facility testing and certification, shipbuilding standardization and energy efficiency testing and certification, respectively. In those projects, the agency shares its systems and provides testing equipment along with engineer training programs and the recipients are responsible for hiring, law revision and testing site provision.