Intro -- Half Title Page -- Title Page -- Copyright -- Contents -- Contributors -- Acknowledgments -- Acronyms and Abbreviations -- Definitions of Country Groups and Comparisons -- Executive Summary -- Support by the National Quality Infrastructure of a Country's Global Competitiveness -- The Government's Role in the National Quality Infrastructure -- Business Competitiveness and the National Quality Infrastructure -- Restructuring and Improved Governance of the National Quality Infrastructure -- More Competitive ECA Countries -- Upgrading of the National Quality Infrastructure -- References -- 1. The Role of Quality and Standards for Competitiveness and Trade -- Opportunities and Risks of Supporting Quality Upgrading -- Standards and Development -- Annex: Important Global Standards -- References -- 2. Eastern Europe and Central Asia's Position in Quality Competition: Not Quite There Yet -- Measuring Quality -- Unit Values -- Quality-Sensitive Industries -- Quality Position as Revealed by Intraindustry Trade -- Quality Strategies -- Quality Rankings in ECA -- Conclusion -- References -- 3. The National Quality Infrastructure: Basic Framework and Role of the Government -- Structure of the National Quality Infrastructure in Market Economies -- International and Regional Coordination -- Rationale for Public Intervention -- References -- 4. The Building Blocks of the National Quality Infrastructure -- What Are Standards, and How Are They Used? -- International and Regional Integration in Standardization -- Conformity Assessment Bodies -- Closing the Loop with Market Surveillance -- Scientific, Industrial, and Legal Metrology -- International Cooperation in Metrology and Trade -- The Role of Accreditation -- International and Regional Integration in Accreditation -- References.

5. Standards and Technical Regulations in Eastern Europe and Central Asia a Double-Edged Sword -- Standards and Technical Regulations in ECA -- Improving Standards -- Sorting Out Technical Regulations -- References -- 6. Conformity Assessment: Sometimes, But Not Always, a Seal of Quality in Eastern Europe and Central Asia -- The Market for Conformity Assessment in ECA -- Market Surveillance in ECA -- Supporting the Market for Standards and Conformity Assessment -- References -- 7. Metrology: Making Sure Everything Fits -- Metrology in ECA -- Upgrading Metrology Systems in ECA -- References -- 8. Accreditation: Certified Once- Accepted Everywhere -- Accreditation in Eastern Europe and Central Asia -- Establishing Credible Accreditation Systems in ECA -- References -- 9. Conclusion: Moving Forward -- Incentives for Reform in Eastern Europe and Central Asia -- Improving Governance for National Quality Infrastructure -- Investing in the National Quality Infrastructure -- The Way Forward -- References -- Appendix A: Industry Classification According to the Revealed Quality Elasticity -- Appendix B: Quality Indicators in Eastern Europe and Central Asia -- Appendix C: Copyright Issues -- Appendix D: Accreditation Gap Analysis -- Back Cover.

Standards are everywhere, yet go mostly unnoticed. They define how products, processes, and people interact, assessing these entities? features and performance and signaling their level of quality and reliability. They can convey important benefits to trade, productivity, and technological progress and play an important role in the health and safety of individual consumers and the environment. Firms? ability to produce competitive products depends on the availability of adequate quality-support services. A ?national quality infrastructure? denotes the chain of public and private services (standardization, metrology, inspection, testing, certification, and accreditation) needed to ascertain that products and services introduced in the marketplace meet defined requirements, whether demanded by authorities or by consumers.In much of Eastern Europe and Central Asia, national quality infrastructure systems are underdeveloped and not harmonized with those of their trading partners. This imbalance increases trade costs, hinders local firms? competitiveness, and weakens overall export performance.The objective of Harnessing Quality for Global Competitiveness in Eastern Europe and Central Asia is to highlight the need to reform and modernize the institutions in the region toward better quality and standards. The book ties in with much of the work done in the World Bank on the business environment, trade facilitation, economic diversification, and enterprise innovation. The countries in the region can improve this situation, revising mandatory standards, streamlining technical regulations, and harmonizing their national quality infrastructure with those of regional and international trade partners. Most governments will need to invest strategically in their national quality infrastructure, including pooling services with neighboring countries and

stimulating local awareness and demand for quality. Specifically for the countries of the former Soviet Union, the restructuring process will need to improve governance, thus eliminating conflicts of interest and providing technically credible services to the economy.

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Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2018. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.