Economic and trade development between New Zealand and China is set to improve further following a new arrangement between the two countries’ accreditation organisations.

Dr Llew Richards, the chief executive of International Accreditation NZ (IANZ), and Mr Xiao Jianhua, the chief executive of the China National Accreditation Service (CNAS), signed the deal at a meeting in Frankfurt recently.

 Dr Richards says having robust and widely-accepted accreditation offers significant economic benefits for trade between New Zealand and China and gives assurance of market access for exporters.

“We have been working on this for some time and are very pleased to have now finalised the arrangement,” says Dr Richards. “There are many advantages for both New Zealand and China in the development of strong links between our organisations. A closer, long-term relationship and greater technical co-operation will make trade easier in both directions.”

 New Zealand and China already have a Mutual Recognition Arrangement (MRA) in place, which was originally signed in 1999. www.ianz.govt.nz

“That means we accept reports from their accredited laboratories and vice versa,” says Dr Richards. “However, this latest signing goes much deeper than that. It will help eliminate technical barriers to trade, boost awareness and confidence in accreditation amongst regulators and exporters and ensure the MRA is working as effectively as possible.

“Using cross-country accreditation provides cost-effective solutions for regulators and exporters. It means more robust systems for checking goods and it minimises liability for all parties. In addition, greater collaboration will bring benefits like staff training and interaction, improved information exchange and co-operative assessments.”