Sri Lankaโs national consumer protection is to be led by an internationally accredited quality professional-and a leading academic in management science.
โWith this appointment, we leverage your local and international experience for our consumer protectionโ said the Minister of Industry Commerce, Resettlement of Protracted Displaced Persons & Cooperative Development Rishad Bathiudeen. Minister Bathiudeen was handing over the letter of appointment to Dr Lalith Senaweera (PhD in Management-USA, MBA-Colombo, BSc Hons- Sri Lanka), the ninth Chairman of the Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA) of Sri Lanka on 8 March at the Ministry, Colombo 3.
As the former Director General โ CEO of Sri Lanka Standards Institution, Dr Senaweera led it for 36 years, infusing various aspects of international standardisation to Sri Lankan domain. He introduced the ISO series to Lankan business sector for the first time 1994, starting with ISO 9000. He was the Chairman of DEVCO โ ISO during 2013-2016, the International Organization for Standardization which comprises 163 member countries. As a result he brought honour to Sri Lanka being the only Sri Lankan to hold this distinguished international position in global standardisation. The global action plan for Standardisation (2016-2020) now being implemented across the world was developed during his Chairmanship of DEVCO. DEVCO-ISO integrates implementation of ISO across the world.
Considering his significant contribution to propagate and promote quality and quality management locally and internationally, he was recognised by global authorities and was awarded the fellowship of American Society for Quality (ASQ) and Chartered Quality Professional of Chartered Quality Institute of UK. He is the sole Sri Lankan to hold both these recognitions in Sri Lanka today. He is an approved Assessor Team Leader for Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) UN Framework on Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and conducted a number of institutional assessments in leading countries including UK, Japan, Korea, China to accredit applying country-organisations. He has published many academic articles and research papers and also the author of three volumes on Quality and Quality Management. He is a visiting academic in a number of local and foreign affiliated universities.
โI shall render my services and expertise to upgrade CAA and to serve the consumer protection vision of the Unity Governmentโ said a thankful Dr Senaweera, responding to Minister Bathiudeen.
He packs 17 yearsโ senior management experience, serving in various senior capacities at SLSI and other international bodies. In 2013, he clinched the โBest CEOโ awarded by the Ministry of Science and Technology competing with 15 scientific institutions, under the same Ministry.
Leader of All Ceylon Makkal Congress