Manufacturers and exporters will be able to use the certification as an alternative to other management systems certificates approved by the International Standards Organisation (ISO), industries ministry sources said.

The scheme will come into force when the government okays Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution (management systems certification) regulations.

The scheme will save a huge amount of foreign currency spent by local manufacturers on acquiring different ISO certificates.

A local firm has to spend $2,000 to $5,000 depending on products on any ISO certification such as HACCP (hazard analysis critical control points), ISO 9000 and ISO 1400, industry sources said.

A high official of industries ministry said the process of the BSTI certification would be complete by the end of this year.

The government has already finalised draft regulations on management systems certification recently with assistance from the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO).

Besides, seven officials of BSTI have already received training on management systems certification.

ISO, headquartered in Geneva, is a network of the national standards bodies of 157 countries.

ISO certificates help manufacturers and exporters become competitive in the world market.