The Sultanate of Oman will mark World Standards Day (WSD) on Sunday. WSD is celebrated on October 14 to pay tribute to thousands of experts who develop voluntary technical agreements that are published as international standards.
The International Organization for Standardisations (ISO), the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) celebrates WSD this year under the theme “video standards create a global stage”, to highlight the innovation of recent decades that has driven a huge leap forward in video quality as video has become more accessible, helping people worldwide to share their stories in vivid, moving pictures.
Khamis bin Abdullah al Farsi, Director-General of Specifications and Metrology at the Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MoCI) said: “Video is the modern medium of expression. Advances in the technology have changed our world, revolutionising entertainment, connecting friends and families across the globe, enriching our communications experiences and enabling major improvements in medical care and education.”
Having standards recognized and respected all over the world means that video encoded on one device can be decoded by another, regardless of the device being used. This introduces economies of scale that help to grow the market, giving innovators the confidence to invest in new video applications and service. The international standards meet industry demand for powerful compression capabilities.
Standardization is one of the main axes of development in the fields of industry, trade and service delivery. Standardization includes issuing standards, conformity assessment procedures and issuing certificates.
The World Trade Organization (WTO) has adopted the standards issued by international organisations and bodies specialising mainly in the trade exchange between the member countries, and invited the member states to join these international organisations in the preparation of the international standards. The WTO also called for the implementation of international standards at the national level or the use of international standards when preparing national standards in order to achieve compatibility that removes any technical barriers both in exporting or importing,
Established by Royal Decree No 39/76, the Directorate General of Standards and Metrology is the standardization body in the Sultanate that is concerned by conformity assessment procedures through an annual inspection plan that includes Omani and imported products for consumer protection.
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