Introduction to the SMIIC technical work. In this Presentation, we would like to give you the basics of the SMIIC technical work.
Before talking about the SMIIC technical work, we have to define what a standard is. There are certain aspects and requirements that make a document a standard. Therefore, we can say that that document must be prepared by consensus, approved by a recognized body, contributed by the relevant stakeholders and finally it should be for common and repeated use and voluntary.
One of the most important aspects of the high-quality standardization process is the consensus of the relevant stakeholders that contribute to the technical work with their expertise. If you manage to have such a process, the result will be high quality standards that answer the demands. This is the approach that we apply within SMIIC.
Having explained what a standard is and its all aspects with regards to its quality, now we can talk about how we set standards in SMIIC.
OIC/SMIIC STANDARDS are issued by technical committees. Before mentioning about these key bodies, we would like to introduce one of the important councils of SMIIC, which is standardization management Council, in short SMC. That is the organ assigned the task of development of OIC/SMIIC standards in cooperation with member states. SMC, basically coordinates and overseas the performance of the technical committees. The Council evaluates the performance of each technical committee, assigns the chairs and allocates the secretariats of each technical committee.
As explained previously, the technical committees are the key bodies that drive the standardization activities in SMIIC. In the technical committees, SMIIC member states are represented by their experts.
A Technical committee has a precise title, a scope and a work program; and runs its activities in accordance with an agreed business plan. In each technical committee, Member states of SMIIC can choose to be a participating member or an observer member. and in addition to this, there can be present, the liaison organizations which also contribute to the standardization activities. the participating members have the right to vote on the ballots on standards projects. And as an observer member, you can follow up the activities of the technical committees and you can comment on the standards projects, where relevant. Furthermore, the management of the committee is handled by the secretary assigned by the member state that holds the secretariat of the committee. And there is also a chair person who has the task to chair the technical committee meetings and take the decisions where necessary.
Therefore each technical committee can be considered as an international organization which issues standards in line with their scope.
Now lets continue with the rules that guide us in technical work. SMIIC directives part 1 is the procedures for the technical work and covers the rules for the development and maintenance of the OIC/SMIIC standards.
On the other hand SMIIC directives part 2 gives more detailed writing and editorial rules for OIC SMIIC deliverables so that they can be clear, precise and unambiguous. in brief, this is the guiding document on how to write standards.
In addition to the directives, we have two other guiding documents. first one is on how to adopt OIC/SMIIC standards at National and Regional level and the second ONE is about the rules for the distribution and sales of OIC/SMIIC standards.
In addition to the technical committees, CCA has a specific task to prepare OIC SMIIC standards for conformity assessment; Such as, OIC SMIIC 2 which is on the general requirements for Halal certification Bodies or OIC SMIIC 3 which is on the general requirements for accreditation bodies that accredits HALAL certification BODİES.
Here you see the list of the current SMIIC technical committees. The Technical committee one on halal food issues is the first technical committee established in SMIIC. halal food issues, Halal cosmetic issues, Halal supply chain management systems, Pharmaceuticals issues, Tourism and Related Services, Petrolium are all technical committees with their precise titles and scopes. As you see Halal is not the only field of technical activity of SMIIC but a special focus is given considering its importance.
So how the technical committees work? how the standards are set Within SMIIC technical committees? We call this as “the project approach”. Any work intended to be a new standard or the revision of the existing OIC/SMIIC standards can be considered as a new project under the work program of the relevant technical committee. Each project on has its project leader, target dates, and a development track.
Now let's talk about the development process of OIC SMIIC standards. Each project from proposal to the publication goes through several standardization stages.
the first one is the proposal stage. At this stage, any work item proposal which could be prepared by a Committee Member is submitted to the committee secretariat and upon the receipt of this proposal it is circulated to all committee members whether to asses if there is really a need for a standard on the proposed standard topic. If the proposal is approved it proceeds to the relevant stage. At stage 2 which is the Preparatory stage, a working group composed of experts assigned by members, is established to prepare the initial draft. when the draft is ready it is sent to the committed secretariat and stage two ends.
During the stage 3 which is the committe stage, the draft prepared by the working group, is discussed by the committee members. the main purpose of this stage is to get the consensus of the committee on the draft document. When the consensus has been obtained, the draft document is sent to SMIIC General Secretariat to be registered as the draft standard.
stage 4 or inquiry stage or the Draft Standard stage is one of the main stages of standardization where the draft standard is circulated to not only the committee members but also all semic member States. at this stage semic members Try to get the consensus of their National stakeholders on the draft standard and send their answer as THEİR National View.
Once the responses of SMIIC members has been collected and the criteria for approval has been fulfilled, the committee can proceed directly to publication which is stage 6 or Stage 5 if there are technical modifications applied to the draft.
During Stage 5, the approval stage , the modified documents are recirculated to all member states once again but this time, only yes and no answers are collected. The stage ends if the criteria for approval has been fulfilled and Stage 6, the publication stage Starts.
At stage 6, SMIIC General Secretariat starts the study for the publication of the OIC/SMIIC standard. If necessary, the Final editorial corrections are made in line with SMIIC Directives. And the procedure is finalised with the publication of the standard.
This is the brief story on how the standards are developped by SMIIC. Thank you for your time.