Moslem Barrak
Secretary, ARAC

After much planning, the Arab Accreditation Cooperation (ARAC) successfully held its 10^th Annual Meetings in Cairo, Egypt, from 04 to 08 December 2022. The meetings were hosted by the Egyptian Accreditation Council (EGAC). The schedule for these meetings was exceptionally busy, including a significant number of committee and working group meetings and events such as the 2nd ARAC community stakeholders workshop, the celebration of ARAC’s 10^th anniversary, and capacity building activities (Regional training workshops on remote assessments/peer evaluations using augmented reality glasses, and the key documents/records to prepare for the ARAC peer evaluation process).

Significant achievements were made at these meetings, including the approval of a new ARAC strategy covering the period 2023-2025, and the decision made to extend the ARAC MLA structure to include Proficiency Testing Providers, Reference Material Producers and Biobanking (level 2) and Medical Devices Management Systems (MDMS), Information Security Management Systems (ISMS), Occupational Health & Safety Management Systems (OH&SMS) and Educational Organizations Management Systems (EOMS) (level 4).

The awareness stakeholder workshop was conducted on 05 December 2022 and included more than 150 participants from the ARAC stakeholder community, representing conformity assessment bodies, regulatory authorities, industry and trade associations and consumer associations in Egypt.

During this workshop, participants stressed the role that ARAC plays in the development of the accreditation and conformity assessment infrastructure in Egypt. This workshop aimed to provide stakeholders in Egypt with a better understanding of the value of accreditation and accredited services, and in particular, to encourage regulators to recognize and accept accredited conformity assessment results covered under the IAF MLA, ILAC MRA and ARAC MLA.

ARAC MLA Signatories

Following the latest ARAC MLA Group decision, ARAC has five MLA signatories recognized for the following:

Regional Workshop on IAF MD 25

In order to harmonize accreditation practices among ARAC members and enhance members’ capacities in operating existing accreditation schemes of common interest to ARAC members, ARAC organized on 07 June 2022 a regional workshop on new IAF Mandatory Document MD 25:2022 Criteria for Evaluation of Conformity Assessment Schemes. The objective of this session was to prepare the ABs as well as the certification bodies in the Arab region to fulfil the requirements of this MD.

These online training sessions covered the minimum requirements for conformity assessment schemes (CAS) to be applied by ARAC member accreditation bodies when evaluating national, regional or international CASs to ensure they meet requirements specified in ISO/IEC 17011, Clause 4.6.3.