Namibia currently lags behind its regional peers in the number of active standards and is targeting 1,200 new standards over the next three years under a national strategy led by the Namibia Standards Institution (NSI).
The plan aims to strengthen competitiveness, safety and trade compliance across key economic sectors.
Since its establishment in 2008, the NSI has published 235 standards, compared to 1,600 in Botswana, 6,500 in Zambia and more than 10,500 in South Africa.
NSI Chief Executive Officer Eino Mvula said the new National Standardisation Strategy and Plan will align Namibia’s quality framework with international benchmarks and support industries such as manufacturing, agriculture, fisheries, mining and construction.
“Our ambitious national standardisation strategy plan aims at significantly elevating the standardisation landscape in Namibia, to ensure that we move from our current stock of 275 standards, and we have set for this year’s goals that we must build this number to 1,267 within the next three years,” Mvula said.
He explained that the initiative follows best practices guided by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the WTO Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) Agreement. Each standard will go through a six-step process, from drafting and committee review to public consultation and final publication.
“We are required by law and also by international best practise to follow a process, and that process is in line with the code of practise for preparation and adoption of standards, which is contained in the Annex III of the WTO TBT agreements,” Mvula said.
Emvula added that part of the strategy’s focus will include developing standards for alternative building materials to help address Namibia’s housing challenges.
The NSI also plans to shorten the standard development timeline from 22 months to nine months for direct adoptions and one year for new national standards.
“We must deliver, and we must try to make it standard and take it to market in the short term. Our plan is that we can shorten that, we can do, if it’s a direct adoption, nine months in the future, and if it’s a national development, we need ratification in March,” Mvula said at the launch of the National Quality Awards and the National Standardisation Strategy and Plan.
The initiative forms part of Namibia’s broader effort to strengthen its National Quality Infrastructure, which brings together public and private institutions to ensure that products and services meet international safety and performance standards.
Namibia’s National Standardisation Strategy and Plan (NSSP) aligns with national development policies including Vision 2030, NDPs 4–6, and key industrial and trade strategies.
Over its three-year implementation period, 992 new standards have been identified for development, which will increase the total number of national standards to 1,267.
