Making Australia a safer place is one of the motivations behind a new initiative that will affect almost every aspect of our daily lives.

The quality, safety and performance of everything - from cars, to medical equipment, to our food and drinking water - is currently tested and regulated by the Joint Accreditation System of Australia and New Zealand (JAS-ANZ), the National Association of Testing Authorities (NATA), the National Measurement Institute (NMI) and Standards Australia.

Now these four agencies have agreed to establish a new body – the Technical Infrastructure Alliance (TIA) – to identify and execute joint projects, with the aim of bringing greater efficiency and performance in quality standards.

This initiative seeks to benefit the following critical areas of Australian life:

• Economic efficiency and growth
• Commercial and industrial effectiveness
• Local and international trade
• Community health and safety
• Consumer protection.

The TIA will enable better collaboration, efficiency and innovation between the four member organisations across the field of testing and conformance to quality, safety and performance – documentary standards. 

The four member organisations assist Australian industry to trade competitively in the global marketplace by providing their products and services with an internationally recognised assurance of quality, safety, performance, consistency and accuracy.

Additionally, these Australian organisations are influential in the testing and accreditation of documentary standards across the world – especially in developing countries.

The TIA will meet quarterly with the first meeting scheduled for 12 April 2010. Independent consultants, StanCert will organise and chair all meetings.

National Association of Testing Authorities (NATA)
www.nata.com.au

NATA is Australia’s national authority for assessing the competence and quality of systems, testing and procedures of organisations including laboratories, inspection bodies, proficiency testing scheme providers and reference material producers.  Mr Alan Patterson, NATA CE says:
“By combining the efforts of our organisations, Australia will be better placed to sustain its technical standards infrastructure into the future. The TIA will help to ensure the delivery of reliable Australian products and services – to both the domestic and international markets.”

Media Enquiries:

Steven Jones  National Association of Testing Authorities
(02) 9736-8222 | This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Mark Bezzina  StanCert Pty. Ltd.
(02) 8721 6434 | 0413 101 096 | This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it