BMWi and ME launch joint work plan for 2019-2020
Brazil
On 16 September, the Annual Meeting of the Brazilian-German Working Group Quality Infrastructure took place back-to-back to the Brazilian-German Economic Meeting in Natal, Brazil. Based on topics suggested by companies and QI institutions from Brazil and Germany, the Brazilian Ministry of Economy (ME), the Brazilian National Institute of Metrology, Quality and Innovation (INMETRO) and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) aligned their cooperation in the areas of standardisation, accreditation and conformity assessment as well as product safety and market surveillance for 2019 and 2020.
The working group meeting was co-chaired by Stefan Schnorr, Director-General for Digital and Innovation Policy from BMWi, Jorge Hargrave, Director from the Special Secretariat for Productivity, Employment and Competitiveness of ME, as well as Angela Flôres Furtado, President of INMETRO. The Work Plan 2019-2020 sets ambitious objectives for cooperation in areas just as standardization of industry 4.0, machinery safety, conformity assessment of medical devices, as well as a dialogue to support the regulatory reform brought forward by INMETRO.
On the side of the event, Parliamentary State Secretary Thomas Bareiß (BMWi) and Vice Minister Carlos da Costa (ME) also signed a Joint Declaration of Intent in order to formalize the continuous cooperation on quality infrastructure.
Mr Hargrave appreciated the hands-on approach of the cooperation with Germany that aligns well with the ministry’s agenda of modernisation. He underlined the importance of the working group.
It unites the German and the Brazilian private sectors. Being on the edge of innovation, their insights are of great value. The ministry is aware of the high potential of Quality Infrastructure for productivity increases and therefore regards the intensive participation of INMETRO in the working group as very valuable.
Ms Furtado considered the digitalisation as a significant opportunity for an in-depth cooperation with Germany on the necessary changes of Quality Infrastructure to a more digitalised world as well as on the digitalisation of Quality Infrastructure itself. She stressed not to lose sight of the interests of the consumers as goal of all Quality infrastructure activities as consumers are finally responsible for the creation of value.
Mr Schnorr thanked ME and INMETRO for their support as the relevant Brazilian players in technical regulation and Quality Infrastructure. It is important to build the cooperation upon a solid base not least because of the complexity of the topic. Having high influence on productivity and economic development the importance standardisation, accreditation and conformity assessment and market surveillance often lacks knowledge and understanding. For this reason, it is crucial to have an active participation of the private sector that brings the problems that companies experience into the discussion.