The undersecretariat for foreign trade and the KalDer - the Turkish Society for Quality - asked BSI to support Turkey’s private and public sectors in the process of technical harmonization and aligning of their quality infrastructure with that of the EU in the areas of direct relevance to the Customs Union Agreement; more specifically in the parts concerned with technical barriers to trade. Activities included:
- analysis of the current situation in quality infrastructure and preparation of terms of reference and tender dossiers for €9m of technical assistance to be provided by other EU and Turkish professional bodies
- setting up and maintaining a web site to promote quality in Turkey
- facilitating the process of technical harmonization in Turkey - the approximation of horizontal legislation and the new approach directives, the transposition of the old approach directives and the establishment of enforcement structures for market surveillance
- facilitating the process for the alignment of Turkey’s quality infrastructure and improving its functioning (conformity assessment bodies and notified bodies amongst others)
- supporting the economic operators in their capacity to produce goods that satisfy the quality requirements that are part of the internal market Acquis
- creating awareness in Turkey of the implications of the adoption of EC legislation for Turkey’s public sector, consumers and private sector, especially to small economic operators (SMEs)
- improving the know-how in both the public and private sector on the technical regulations, new and old approach directives, and the quality requirements set for the internal market, as well as on the EU best practice in their field of work
- increasing and establishing relationships between the public and private sectors, with the European Conformity Assessment community including membership for Turkish associations of the relevant EU professional organizations.
- measuring the progress in all fields of conformity assessment.
