National Regulator for Compulsory Specifications

Overview

The National Regulator for Compulsory Specifications (NRCS) is an agency of the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (the dtic). The organisation was established on 1 September 2008, in accordance with the provision of National Regulator for Compulsory Specifications Act 5 of 2008 and emerged as an independent organisation from the original Regulatory Division of the South African Bureau of Standards.

The NRCS mandate includes promoting public health and safety, environmental protection and ensuring fair trade. This is achieved through development of and administration of technical regulations and compulsory specifications.

The legislative mandate of NRCS is derived from the following legislations: the National Regulator for Compulsory Specifications Act 5 of 2008, the Legal Metrology Act 9 of 2014, and the National Building Regulations and Building Standards Act 103 of 1977.

The NRCS’s role as regulator is to ensure businesses produce, import and sell products or services that are not harmful to consumers and the environment or that fall short of the declared measured quantity. The NRCS also provides regulatory function for the building industry to ensure building safety, structural stability and uniform interpretation of the NBR and BS Acts.

The vision of the NRCS is to be a credible and respected regulator for the protection of the public, the economy and the environment. Its mission is to develop compulsory specifications and technical regulations, and maximise compliance of regulated products and services.

The NRCS’s strategic objectives are to: develop, maintain and administer compulsory specifications and technical regulations; maximise compliance with compulsory specifications or technical regulations; ensure recognition and awareness of the NRCS; and be a sound, effective and efficient organisational governance.

The broad mandate of the NRCS is to promote public health, safety and environmental protection through the development and enforcement of compulsory specifications and legal metrology technical regulations. While consumer protection lies at the heart of the activities of the NRCS, this function cannot be separated from South Africa’s role as a global trading partner. South African goods and services need to be competitive in terms of cost and quality and, at the same time, be guaranteed to be safe and fit for their purpose. The NRCS’s regulated products and industries include: automotive products; built environment; chemical products, mechanical devices and materials; electrical products and appliances; frozen fish, canned fisheries, canned meat and live abalone; and measurable products, services and measuring Instruments.