Chairperson, Deputy President and colleagues in the House, I am not a member of this committee. I'm merely rising on behalf of my colleague who's indisposed as you know. He would like to say that the science of metrology engenders certainty, and therefore confidence in our measurement standards on a national and also a comparative global basis. It also provides a reference analysis in the event of a measurement dispute, and maintains and develops primary methods for chemical analysis in order to certify reference materials for South Africa and the region.
Many of the members before me spoke about the obvious advantages of the Bill, and I don't wish to repeat any of that, but a concern that was raised by one member is also a concern of my colleague, namely that the National Regulator for Compulsory Specifications, which is said to be understaffed and underresourced, will have to enforce the legislation. It is also said that it doesn't have the necessary inspection facilities to ensure legal compliance. Colleagues, we trust - and we are saying this to the Minister in particular - that this will be addressed by the department and we look forward to a new financing model that will place the NRCS in a position to fulfil its mandate, as anticipated in the Bill.
We agree with the registration of all repairers, which will bring confidence to consumers, who can now be assured of certain uniform standards of repair that will assist in the elimination of rogue repairers.
Chair, this is an uncontroversial, though important Bill, and we support it fully.