83 steel manufactures apply for product conformity certificate at DCL

The procedure would allow them to use the DCL product conformity mark on their products.

According to Eng. Hawa Bastaki, Director of Dubai Central Laboratory Department of Dubai Municipality, some 83 companies from the Middle East, Europe, Asia and America have applied for the certificate so far.

Eng. Bastaki said:

"We have recently handed over this certificate to the Abu Dhabi-based Emirates Steel Industries (ESI) for conformity of their product to the BS 4449 standard specification. ESI is the first national establishment to have acquired this certificate."

Following internationally accepted certification procedures, the awarding of the certificate is the result of a comprehensive assessment consisting of factory audit by DCL assessors and type testing of representative samples of the product at the DCL laboratories.

"ESI has successfully demonstrated that it has in place a quality management and quality assurance system to enable them to consistently produce the product according to the required specifications," she said.

The certificate was formally handed over by Eng. Hawa Bastaki to the senior officials of ESI in a ceremony held recently at the DCL premises in Karama.

She explained that the certification is part of the implementation of the Dubai Municipality Circular No. 159 of 2007 pertaining to the "Control of Reinforcing Steel in the Emirate of Dubai".

The manufacturers who have applied for this certification from different parts of the world include those from Middle East (UAE, Oman, Qatar), Europe (Spain, Italy, Greece, U.K., Ukraine, Turkey, etc), Asia (Korea, China, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, India, Pakistan, etc), and America.

Eng. Bastaki said, as of end of October 2008, the Central Lab auditors have audited 23 factories and the auditing of five more companies would be carried out during the next three weeks.

"Out of the 23 factories that have been audited, 10 have satisfactorily completed the certification process and have been awarded the Certificate of Product Conformity," she noted.