The United Arab Emirates is set to launch a number of new programmes aiming at standardising the measurements used across a range of sectors, including jewellery products and taxi fares.
Eng. Amina Zainal, Director of the Standardisation Administration at the Emirates Authority for Standardisation and Metrology (ESMA) said on Sunday she was working with a number of partners in the public and private sectors and will soon sign a range of cooperation agreements to develop new legal and scientific standardisation programmes.
“She added that the authority is currently launching programmes related to standardising jewellery measurements, commercial measurements, fuel and taxi meters, and medical measurement tools,” according to a report by the WAM state news agency.
The announcement was made on the sidelines of a celebration to mark World Metrology Day.
Chinese taxi firm
In December, Dubai’s seventh taxi franchise – and its first Chinese taxi firm – began operations adding an additional 100 taxis to the emirate’s fleet of cabs. The firm, Oneroad Taxi, plans to expand its fleet to at least 2,000 vehicles by 2020, including limousines, ladies and special needs taxis. As of December 2018, there were 10,834 taxis operating in Dubai.
In December, the ESMA also unveiled new regulations designed to combat the forgery of hallmarks and certifications on diamonds and other precious stones being sold in the country.
In a statement, the ESMA said that the regulations are designed to clamp down on “people involved in forging hallmarks of precious metal and/or certificates of precious stone jewellery, or in selling, offering, possessing or trading in jewellery with formed hallmarks or certificates.”
Other new regulations adopted by ESMA include 131 UAE and international standards in the field of equipment, tools, personal protection materials and occupational safety and health, which it said will serve to meet the needs of various industrial and service sectors and regulatory bodies and raise the quality of products, as well as new standards for the oil and gas sector such as for coke and carbon black projects in the industrial sector.
