Advantage on market by means of certification – USAID continues help to Serbian companies in process of introduction of international standards

The project for support to economic subjects in the process of certification and introduction of international standards, as well as 13 companies from the Užice region, which will get the financial support for these purposes from the US Agency for International Development, will be represented on Thursday (September 7, 2006) at the meeting in the premises of the Regional Chamber of Commerce of Užice.

The aim of the aforementioned project is improvement of operations of the companies from western Serbia and competitiveness of their products through application and certification. The international standards that are of crucial importance to competitiveness of the economy of Serbia are the quality systems from the ISO group - ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 22000, international standards related to health safety of the food - HACCP and EurepGAP, the demands of the organic production of food, as well as "CE" - the symbol for coordination with European norms for technical products.

The project was backed by the American people through USAID, in the scope of economic (CRDA-E) program, which is implemented in the western Serbia by the Organization for International Rehabilitation and Development (IRD). The plan is that, through realizaion of the project, more than 20 companies from western Serbia successfully complete the process for introduction and certification of the international standards.

Total value of the project is 105,000 USD, 95,000 USD of which are provided by USAID and about 53,000 USD are provided by the companies from western Serbia.