Secretariat
Arab Accreditation Cooperation (ARAC)

New ARAC Associate Member: Somalia

Significant growth in the Arab Accreditation Cooperation (ARAC) membership has been achieved with the acceptance of the Quality Department of the Ministry of Public Works, Housing and Reconstruction in Federal Republic of Somalia as an ARAC Associate member. This new membership was approved following a 30-day ballot and review period by the ARAC Executive Committee and ARAC General Assembly members.

ARAC now has 21 members (13 full members, six associate members and two stakeholder members) covering 19 Arab countries (Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen).

ARAC Regional Workshops

Further to the publication of IAF/ILAC Approach to Remote Peer Evaluations of Regions and Single Accreditation Bodies during the COVID-19 Pandemic, a workshop for ARAC Peer evaluators was conducted on 23 and 24 March 2021 on the ARAC MLA Group guidance document ARAC MLAG Policy and Procedure for Guiding Remote Peer Evaluations, which provides requirements and guidance for ARAC peer evaluators on how to plan, manage, and facilitate remote evaluations using information and communications technology as a complement or substitute to traditional evaluation techniques.

Establishment of ARAC E-Learning Platform

COVID-19 has demonstrated the benefits of and need for e-training. ARAC has established its first e-learning platform by completing the materials of the first ARAC E-learning training course on new accreditation scheme development and risk-based assessment approach for Accreditation Bodies.

Signing of the Headquarters Agreement Between ARAC and the Tunisian Government

Following the ARAC GA resolution number 2019/06 which related to the approval of the ARAC Executive Committee’s decision concerning the acceptance of the Tunisian Accreditation Body TUNAC’s offer for hosting the ARAC Secretariat and the registration of ARAC as a legal entity, the ARAC Chair and the Tunisian Ministry in charge of Industry signed the headquarters agreement on 09 March 2021.

The signed headquarters agreement between ARAC and the Tunisian Government will be considered as the legal framework for the registration of ARAC as a legal entity in Tunisia as soon as it is approved by the Tunisian parliament.

The contact details of the ARAC Secretariat are:
ARAC Secretariat
Email : secretariat@arabarac.org
Tel: + 212 600 78 56 78
The new website address is: http://www.arab-accreditation.org