CRO EMPLOYERS, 4 CERTIFICATION COMPANIES SIGN AGREEMENT ON ISO STANDARD

ZAGREB, April 4 (Hina) - The Croatian Employers' Association (HUP) on Tuesday signed an agreement on cooperation with the world's four leading certification companies - Bureau Veritas Croatia, Det Norske Veritas, Lloyd's Register, and SGS Adriatica. The purpose of the agreement is to define and promote a strategy of export of Croatian products. According to data in late March this year, only 202 companies in Croatia were applying the ISO 9000 quality system in the management of business systems. The chairman of the HUP Presidency, Branko Roglic, believes the agreement will facilitate the implementation of the quality system in Croatian companies. This, he said, will create conditions for the strengthening of Croatian companies and secure their presence on the market as well as strengthen the interest of foreign investors in the Croatian market. Unlike neighbouring countries, the introduction of the quality system in Croatia has been rather slow, HUP officials said. In late 1998, Croatia had 121 companies with quality certificates, whereas some neighbouring countries had many more companies operating with certificates, such as Slovenia (502), Slovakia (575), Romania (262) and even Yugoslavia (148). According to Roglic, the reason for such a small number of ISO 9000 certificates is lack of information about certification and the costly procedure of introducing quality systems. HUP director Zeljko Ivancevic said another reason was the situation in the Croatian economy, primarily illiquidity. (hina) rml