The Ghana Standards Authority (GSA) has made Standards for reusable face masks available to local manufacturers and the public free of charge.

The Management of the Authority decided against charging for the acquisition of the Publicly Available Specification (PAS) as part of initiatives aimed at augmenting the government’s efforts to fight the novel coronavirus pandemic. They are available free of charge to download at the GSA website as well as the stakeholders of other websites.

The Publicly Available Specification (PAS) was prepared in response to the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-Cov-2) pandemic by the GSA in collaboration with the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA), the National Regulatory Authority for Medicines, Household Chemicals, Cosmetics and Medical Devices.

It entails physical requirements (fabric type, facial mask design and thickness), packaging and labeling and sampling and testing, among others. The free availability of the PAS should boost domestic mass production of the masks and ensure that only masks that conform to acceptable standards are used in the country as part of measures instituted to stop the transmission of the virus.

“We are determined to do everything possible to help overcome this pandemic; measures adopted include; offering free technical services and helping to promote the new products,” Prof Alex Dodoo, Director-General General of the GSA has said.

“For this reason, we are specifically offering the face mask standards for free, and for similar reasons, waiving or reducing testing and certification fees for inventors during this period,” he added.

Also, the Authority stresses that only fabrics that have been certified by the GSA as conforming to Ghana’s standards should be used in making the masks. Makers of the masks should therefore ensure that they buy from accredited suppliers. However, all masks should be sent to the FDA, not GSA, for approval prior to sale or supply.

The Ghana Standards Authority is the National Standards Body responsible for the development and promotion of Ghana Standards.

It is a member of the African Organisation for Standardisation (ARSO), the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) and an Associate member of the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC).