Standards Act, 2008 (Act No. 8 of 2008)Part 2 : Continuation of the South African Bureau of Standards4. Objects of SABS |
| (1) | The objects of the SABS are to— |
| (a) | develop, promote and maintain South African National Standards; |
| (b) | promote quality in connection with commodities, products and services; and |
| (c) | render conformity assessment services and matters connected therewith. |
| (2) | In order to achieve its objects, the SABS may— |
| (a) | develop, issue, promote, maintain, amend or withdraw South African National Standards and related normative publications serving the standardisation needs of the South African community; |
| (b) | provide reference materials, conformity assessment services, and related training services in relation to standards, including a voluntary SABS Mark Scheme proving assurance of product conformity; |
| (c) | obtain membership in international and foreign bodies having any objects similar to an object of the SABS; |
| (d) | review involvement in international standards committees regularly to ensure resources are targeted where they are of most relevance to South Africa; |
| (e) | establish and maintain the necessary expertise at internationally acceptable level; |
| (f) | co-ordinate, interact and manage the international and bilateral interaction with other national standards bodies from other countries; |
| (g) | provide information services to deal with enquiries about standards, handle the sale and distribution of South African National Standards and related publications, as well as similar publications from international and foreign bodies; |
| (h) | provide the South African enquiry point to maintain the South African notification system in terms of the Technical Barriers to Trade Agreement of the World Trade Organisation; |
| (i) | provide a research and development programme in terms of the need for new standards, improvement of existing standards, standardisation of test methodology and the sketching of future scenarios that might affect the standards environment; |
| (j) | develop a procedure through which other bodies with sectoral expertise can be recognised as Standards Development Organisations and through which the standards of such organisations can be published by the SABS as South African National Standards; |
| (k) | perform, in so far as it is not repugnant to or inconsistent with the provisions of any Act of Parliament, such functions as the Minister may assign to the SABS; |
| (l) | use technical committees to develop and amend South African National Standards. |