Susanah M-Ochieng
Chief Manager, Certification & Inspection
Kenya Accreditation Service (KENAS)

The 2023 African Accreditation Cooperation (AFRAC) Mid-Term Meetings were held in Tunisia from 12-16 June. The meetings took place against the backdrop of the ILAC/IAF Joint Working Group Communications meeting, which was hosted at the same venue from 17-18 June. The meetings were exceptionally busy, with a significant number of subcommittees, working groups and task forces facilitating the implementation of key work items captured in the AFRAC Strategic Plan.

The mid-term meetings provide an opportunity for engaging with like-minded individuals with the goal of harnessing opportunities within the continent to advance accreditation, accredited conformity assessment and mutual recognition both regionally and globally. They say a picture speaks a thousand words, so allow me to walk you through the meetings in a pictorial form.

In addition to the standard meetings, there was an awareness session on the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) led by the Head of Non-Tariff Measures, Ms. Deneswaree Mohun. Ms. Mohun highlighted the following AfCFTA Priority Areas:

• Strengthening institutional capacity and stakeholder engagement
• Concluding outstanding negotiations
• Private sector development and resource mobilization
• Value chain development and industrialization

Non-tariff measures are a broad range of policy measures other than tariffs that impact trade. These include non-tariff barriers to trade (standards, regulations, licensing requirements, quotas, technical barriers to trade and other measures that create obstacles to entry of goods and services) and non-tariff facilitation measures (measures designed to simplify and expedite trade processes, which can include customs procedures, trade facilitation agreements, electronic documentation and single window systems). Non-tariff facilitation measures aim to streamline trade operations and reduce costs and time associated with importing and exporting.

AFRAC Members attended training on IAF MD 25 Criteria for Evaluation of Conformity Assessment Schemes, which included both physical and virtual attendees. IAF MD 25 helps in evaluating schemes like FSSC 22000, Welders, Fire safety inspection and GHG Verification standard, GSO for Halal, Global Gap, BRC among others. It exempts those schemes laid down in regulation and standards developed by national, regional or international standardization bodies e.g. ISO 9001 Quality management systems — Requirements and ISO 14001 Environmental management systems — Requirements with guidance for use, etc. The regulators are encouraged to follow IAF MD 25.

AFRAC also hosted the IAF and ILAC Joint Working Group Communications meeting. Along with the standard agenda, attendees discussed the development of the ILAC/IAF One Organization Project and the plans for rebranding of the one organization. An awareness session was carried out for attendees on how to create a marketing campaign by Maha Alhasin, how to manage communication activities at the regional level by Zaki Alrubaei, and digital marketing trends and managing marketing data from Islam Aziz. It was noted that AFRAC needs to do more to establish its presence within the continent. With this goal in mind, Brahim Houla, the IAF Communications and Marketing Committee Chair, will assist in production of a video on the topic of accreditation in Africa in support of the AfCFTA.

Dates to watch

• Workshop on Metrological Traceability:  04-05 July 2023
• Workshop on Method validation and verification: 14-15 August 2023
• Future meetings:
  • AFRAC General Assembly: 25-30 September 2023: Nairobi, Kenya
  • ILAC/IAF Joint Annual Meetings: 06-15 November 2023: Montreal, Canada