(Continued from last week)
Last week we pointed out that the noise emission standards were not being observed. Our observation has found some agreement according to letter writers. In fact the letter writers seem to think that the problem is gaining intensity.
We wish to remind the citizens that there is a council that has published a standard that gives direction for noise emission into the environment. The technical committee with responsibility for setting this standard is the Environment Committee. The committee is made up of: Environmental Protection Agency, Guyana Power and Light, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Labour, Georgetown Chamber of Commerce, Central Housing and Planning Authority, Roraima Airways, GuySuCo, Mayor and City Council and the Guyana National Bureau of Standards.
The National Standard Council is the controlling body of the Guyana National Bureau of Standards and is responsible for the policy and general administration of the bureau. The council is appointed by the minister according to the GNBS Act 1984. Using its powers in the Standards Act, the council establishes committees for specified purposes.
A standard which has been approved by the Standards Council and on which reflects reasonable agreement among the views of a number of capable individuals whose collective interest provide to the greatest practicable extent a balanced representation of producers, consumers users and others with relevant interests as may be appropriate to the specific subject.
The following is an outline of the procedure which must be followed in the preparation of documents:
The preparation of standard documents is undertaken upon the Standards Council authorization. This may arise out of request from national organizations, bureau staff or technical committees or if none exists a new committee is formed, or the project is allotted to the bureau’s staff.
If necessary, when the final draft is ready, any other minister who might be responsible for any area which the standard may affect is approached to obtain formal concurrence. The final draft document is made available for general comments. in addition copies are forwarded to those known to be interested in the subject.
The technical committee considers all the comments received and recommends a final document to the standards council for approval.
The standards council approves the document and notifies the minister for its publication.
On the recommendation of the Standards Council, the minister may declare a standard compulsory.
Amendments and revisions of standards normally require the same procedure as is applied to the preparation of the original standard.
