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• Villaclara
• Business and Economy
• Science and Technology
• 03 / 16 / 2009

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In its 20 years the center has done more than 150,000 verifications and calibrations, besides the 250 quality evaluations carried out as an annual average.

Opened on February 9, 1989, the institution has had a decisive roll in quality control and consumer protection, testing the measurement instruments used by businesses and entities for evaluating products and guaranteeing the national standards.

Sonia Hernandez Mendez, director of the center, explains that, though there’s a long way to go to improve the quality of services, and in accordance with the norms of the enterprises, they have become aware of the importance of being serious and trustworthy in the use of measurement instruments.

Today, for example, it is impossible to try to sell an article in the international market that would not be certificated by us, so 100% of the export products are guaranteed by this entity. All the scales placed in the ports, from Ciego de Avila to Havana, are revised systematically; guaranteed not to have alterations, said OTN director.

But these controls at markets, commercial units, fuel stations, drugstores or enterprises, are not enough because the most important thing is the personnel who operate these instruments, said the director, who referred to violations detected in some fruit and vegetable markets due to altering of the scales.

This is the most sensitive part of our work, because it’s what’s most seen by the population. Together with other ministries like Audit and Controls and the Councils of Provincial Administration, we have intensified verifications in retail stores, food and restaurant sales and agriculture which are the most vulnerable to crime for having very old measuring instruments that are easier to alter.
Other sensitive points of the economy and services where the Territorial Standardization Office intervenes is in the control of the measuring instruments used for the transmission and distribution of electricity and meters for charging; the capacity of storage of the fuel tanks and the calibration of pumps used to sell diesel or gasoline.

(Granma)