For 30 years, World Quality Day has been celebrated on the second Thursday of November, and since the mid-1990s, the European Quality Week has been held annually.

In 2019, World Quality Day is celebrated on November 14th. The European Quality Week is held from November 11 to 17 under the motto “Let's make quality great again!”.

Today, in the era of transition to a digital economy, the traditional attitude towards quality is changing. The main task is not to produce but to sell, i.e. to create not just quality, but quality with the best ratio “quality - price - time”. The world is shifting to individual quality, when products and services should focus on the consumer and anticipate their expectations.

It is necessary to produce products not only taking into account world trends and sustainable development trends, rapidly changing needs and obsolescence of products, but also taking care of the environment and future generations.

Making quality great again is a motto that is understood as a transition to a new level of quality through modern management and knowledge tools.

In product planning, this includes conducting a risk analysis, identifying development scenarios, implementing strategic analysis and foresight systems.

In design, this is modeling and computer prediction of possible nonconformities in order to prevent them.

In production, it is meeting high requirements from the first sample and the first time.

In operation - this is when the product is accompanied by a decent service and its failure is predictable and predictable.

Thus, to make quality great again is to create products with a “twist” that will surprise and delight a saturated consumer: everything seems to be the same, but it works better, more convenient, there are new unexpected properties and facets. And for all this the consumer is ready to pay!

In our country, a multifaceted quality infrastructure has been created and is maintained at a modern level, which is an integral element of state economic policy. It includes such areas of activity as technical regulation and standardization, metrology, conformity assessment and accreditation, as well as supporting the competitive movement for quality and business excellence.

The legislative basis of the work carried out in these areas is constantly being improved, meeting the demands of the national economy and modern development.

Thus, the new version of the Law “On Ensuring the Unity of Measurements”, which is currently approved by the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus, will increase the level of legal regulation in this area, make the applicable rules and procedures more specific and transparent, and the measurement results even more reliable and accurate, which ultimately will protect the interests of the state, organizations and consumers in accordance with modern challenges.

To produce high-quality and competitive products and services while ensuring their safety, as well as to facilitate the expansion of their exports, the fund of developed and adopted standards is actively replenished, their requirements are updated.

So, during 2019, more than 630 state standards (STB and GOST) were approved.

New developments relate to various sectors of the economy and social sphere - mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, food products, vehicles, information technology, creating a barrier-free environment, etc. They are aimed at ensuring compliance with the EAEU technical regulations, supporting innovation, protecting the environment, and increasing the competitiveness of products only in the domestic market, but also beyond.

About 60% of state standards adopted in 2019 are harmonized with international and European requirements. This provides Belarusian manufacturers with ready-made technical solutions developed by world industry leaders and recognized at the international or regional levels.

Gosstandart makes a significant contribution to the development of technical regulation and standardization systems within the framework of integration entities, primarily the EAEU.

To date, 48 technical regulations of the EAEU (Customs Union) have been adopted, 42 of which have entered into force.

Another 11 unified technical regulations are under development.

Based on the results of the application practice, it is planned to develop 27 draft amendments to the already adopted technical regulations.

This year, for example, changes were made to technical regulations for perfumes and cosmetics, personal protective equipment, wheeled vehicles.

Any industrialized country should have a modern metrological system that provides objective and reliable measurement information, protects the state and society from the consequences of unreliable measurement results, saves various types of resources and improves the quality and competitiveness of products.

The main technical link in the national system for ensuring the uniformity of measurements is the reference base. In our country, it has 59 national standards and will increase by another 6 standards in accordance with the State National Standards of Belarus Standards for 2016-2020.

Among the new developments, for example, we can mention the national standard of unit of length - a meter in the field of long lengths, designed for state acceptance and control tests of laser rangefinders, total stations and GPS receivers, metrological certification, verification and calibration of geodetic measuring instruments.

The new national standard for units of spectral density of energy brightness, spectral density of energy illumination and radiation power in the range of lengths from 0.2 to 3 μm will allow for high-precision measurements in the field of optical radiometry in the republic. At the ready stage, a standard unit of individual and ambient equivalent dose rate of beta radiation is needed to ensure control of nuclear technologies and radiation safety of personnel and the public.

To ensure global trust, to promote the development of international trade and reduce technical barriers in modern conditions when goods and services are delivered to any region of the world, accreditation is called upon.

Currently, the register of the National Accreditation System includes more than 2,500 testing, calibration and calibration laboratories, 117 certification bodies for products, services, management systems, personnel, 14 inspection bodies, 1 medical laboratory and 1 proficiency testing provider.

On October 1, 2019, GOST ISO / IEC 17025-2019 “General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories” was introduced in our country. It is identical to the new version of the international standard ISO / IEC 17025-2017. More than 240 domestic laboratories are already assessing compliance with the new version of the standard, and more than 40 laboratories have confirmed their competence for compliance with its requirements.

These days, from November 11 to 16, the National Accreditation System of the Republic of Belarus undergoes a parity assessment by the European Accreditation Organization (EA), during which it will confirm its status as a signatory to global agreements with international accreditation organizations on the recognition of certificates issued in our country and test reports. 11 experts from Belgium, Bulgaria, the UK, Germany, Greece, Italy, Romania, Croatia, the Czech Republic will check the functioning of the National Accreditation System and its development in accordance with the provisions of the fundamental international standards in the field of conformity assessment, ILAC, IAF and EA documents, as well as European accreditation requirements. Particular attention will be paid to the implementation of the new version of ISO / IEC 17025: 2017. The evaluation program provides for verification of the activities of individual accredited entities in the areas of testing, calibration, certification of products, management systems and personnel. The assessment will also include additional areas of accreditation: inspection bodies, medical laboratories and proficiency testing providers.

In modern conditions, one of the most important tools for ensuring sustainable business competitiveness and increasing the effectiveness of any organization is the introduction of modern management systems. The set of measures implemented in the country for 2016 - 2020 aimed at stimulating the introduction of advanced methods and modern international quality management systems in the country's economy aims at this.

In 2019, a series of state standards in the field of statistics, which are identical to international and may be applicable in the field of quality management, was launched to help organizations.

State standards are being developed in the field of food safety management and occupational health and safety, identical to the new versions of the relevant international standards. Among the developments are also standards in the field of risk management and reliability.

To stimulate the activities of organizations to improve the quality and competitiveness of products, works and services, to introduce modern methods of quality management, a republican competitive movement is developing in the field of quality and business excellence.

The expert commissions have already begun to evaluate the activities of 25 organizations applying for the title of laureate of the competition for the Prize of the Government of the Republic of Belarus for achievements in the field of quality-2019.

Within the framework of the competition “Best Goods of the Republic of Belarus”, meetings of regional competitive commissions were held and finalists were selected who can participate in the second - republican - stage of the competition and claim the title of its laureates.

An expert assessment of the materials of the contests “Best Quality Manager” and “Best Diploma and Research Work in the Field of Management and Quality Control” is carried out.

The second republican creative competition for the best publication on the quality and business excellence of 2019 has also been announced. It is held by the Ministry of Information in conjunction with the State Standard and the Belteleradiocompany.

The competition is designed to draw public attention to quality and business excellence as an essential component of sustainable development of organizations and the national economy, to enhance media coverage of this topic, to help disseminate the experience of the country's best enterprises that have introduced advanced methods of effective management and modern quality management systems.