SABS

About us

The South African Bureau of Standards (SABS) is the only entity in South Africa with the legislated mandate to develop, maintain and promote South African National Standards (SANS) that contribute to public welfare by improving economic efficiency, improving the health and safety aspects of products and services, addressing market failures and promoting trade.

In addition, SABS:

provides assurance, through management system certification schemes, on the effectiveness and validity of a client’s management system(s) in terms of quality, safety and good governance;
provides third-party assurance of quality, safety and reliability of products, through product certification schemes (such as the SABS Mark), to the consumer. Products that have met requirements specified in South African National Standards are awarded the SABS Mark, which can be used to support claims of conformity to standards; and
conducts testing on a wide spectrum of products across industry sectors and technologies at dedicated test laboratories in Pretoria and at various strategic locations throughout South Africa. These services remain the most comprehensive offered by any single organisation in the southern African region. The SABS also supports socio-economic growth by:

promoting the value of design and innovation as a route to growing competitiveness in the economy. This is particularly focused on applying design tools to support the growth of the SMME sector and youth entrepreneurship to create sustainable, competitive jobs, read more here;
conducting local content verification services in accordance with Preferential Procurement Policy Framework Act (PPPFA) regulations. This supports government policy to encourage industrial development through increased preferential procurement of products and services designated to be constituted of a specified amount of local content;
providing third-party consignment inspection services to external purchasing bodies. This assists in their purchasing operations, including the production of item descriptions, the preparation of tender documents, the adjudication of contracts and the inspection of deliverables; and developing and offering structured training courses for Standards and Specifications.

The value of these activities in the greater South African context is captured in this infographic.

Vision

To be the trusted standardisation and quality assurance service provider of choice.

Mission

SABS provides standards and conformity assessment services to enable the efficient functioning of the economy.

Corporate Governance

The SABS is committed to the principles of openness, integrity and accountability and continually reviews processes and practices to ensure compliance with legal obligations and adherence to good corporate governance practices. Compliance with the King Report on Corporate Governance and the Public Finance Management Act 1999 (Act no 1) is therefore an integral part of the objectives as approved by the Council.

Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE)

The South African Bureau of Standards (SABS) complies with the Codes of Good Practice for Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) gazette in 2009.

The annual verification process is undertaken by an independent agency, accredited by the SANAS. The SABS currently holds a Level 3 B-BBEE contributor status against the dti’s Generic Scorecard. The SABS has maintained the B-BBEE level 3 rating for the past 3 financial years.

Annual Reports

2008/2009 Annual Report	2012/2013 Annual Report
2009/2010 Annual report	2013/2014 Annual Report
2010/2011 Annual Report	2014/2015 Annual Report
2011/2012 Annual Report	2015/2016 Annual Report

About us

In addition, SABS:

​Vision

​Mission​

​​Corporate Governance

​Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) ​

Annual Reports​

Vision

Mission

Corporate Governance

Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE)

Annual Reports