Beware the tin gods

The  Editor: There was an advertisement on Sunday May last, by PADA (foreign used car dealers) objecting to the Trinidad and Tobago Bureau of Standards imposing regulations on Japanese tyres fitted to used imported vehicles.

I do not know the rationale for this ruling by the TTBS, but it is another example of the TTBS usurping the authority of other state regulatory bodies. For several years now the bureaucrats at the TTBS have been persuading their Minister to allow them to declare certain standards mandatory, and simultaneously to make the TTBS the enforcing agency.

The TTBS must be the only standards agency in the world with powers of enforcement. Most industry standards are voluntary worldwide. Users and manufacturers are free to adopt them or not. The standards logo such as the British kitemark, may only be used with the approval of the standard agency who charge a fee for inspection and verification. A company which uses a Standard mark without approval is guilty of a fraud and subject to prosecution and heavy penalties. A company which does not use a standard mark makes no particular claim.

Where consumer safety is concerned, say with pharmaceuticals, or electrical devices, other agencies are responsible for enforcement. The bigger problem which citizens face is the emergence of a new breed of bureaucrats with power to make regulations, and power to enforce as well. We must guard against these tin gods!

Michael J Williams
Maracas Valley