Bahrain plans to set up textile labs to check quality

08 Feb '12

2 min read

Bahrain is considering setting up specialized laboratories for testing all textiles, fabrics and garments that enter the country.

Currently, all textiles and garments entering the Bahrain market meet the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) norms, but there are no specialised labs in the country to monitor and control quality of those goods.

Bahrain Industry and Commerce Minister, Dr. Hassan Fakhro, said they had considered setting up specialized laboratories in the past and tried to earmark a sum for the purpose, but it was not included in the final Budget. However, he is positive that the proposal would form a part of the agenda for 2013 and 2014 Budgets.

He highlighted that presently the country lacks accurate norms to assess quality of the goods, however all goods entering the country happen to be in lines with the agreed GCC norms and standards.

The National Committee for Standards and Specifications ensures observance of GCC norms. Whenever the Committee comes across any defective goods, either during a random sample check or by way of complaints to the Ministry, it instantly initiates action against the traders selling such sub-standard goods.

The Minister was responding to the query raised by the Council's Legislative and Legal Affairs Committee and the Woman and Child Committee Vice-Chairperson, Rabab Al Arrayedh, about inspection of textiles, fabrics and garments entering the Bahrain market.

According to Ms. Al Arrayedh, non-existence of specialized laboratories makes it difficult to perform quality check on goods at the time of entry and this has paved the way for uncontrolled bulk entry of several sub-standard goods into the country's market.

Acknowledging the Ministry's efforts to set up such labs, she called for issuance of unified GCC standards and specialisations.

Fibre2fashion News Desk - India

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