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ESWATINI COMMEMORATES THE WORLD ACCREDITATION DAY

09/06/2023 07:26:00 Nhlanganiso Mkhonta

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MBABANE – Yesterday, the Kingdom of Eswatini joined the world in commemorating the World Accreditation Day.

The World Accreditation Day is celebrated on June 9 of each year. The theme for this year is: Accreditation: Supporting the Future of Global Trade. World Accreditation Day is a global initiative established by the International Laboratory Accreditation Commission (ILAC) and the International Accreditation Forum (IAF) to promote the value of accreditation.

Global trade is the exchange of goods and services across international borders. It comprises of imports, exports, foreign direct investment, job outsourcing, and setting up of multinational companies. Benefits of global trade include global economic growth, decrease global poverty, opportunities for local industries to go global, competitive pricing, worldwide exchange of technology and many more.

Global trade is ready for a strong but uneven recovery after the shock of the pandemic, according to the World Trade Organization, and merchandise trade volumes are expected to grow while remote working helped to boost sectors like electronic goods.

Trade dynamics will be influenced by big trends: changes in trade barriers, innovative technologies, ethical business requirements, and climate change adaptation on the part of government and business.

This theme demonstrates how accreditation and accredited conformity assessment activities support the ongoing global supply chain restructuring that continues to be a source of trade normalization as firms seek new markets and investment opportunities to build resilient and flexible supply chains.

Accreditation is an attestation of the competence and impartiality of laboratories, inspection and certification bodies that perform the conformity assessment work. It is a tool to prove the technical competence of organisations that offer testing, examination, validation and verification, inspection, calibration, reference materials production, proficiency testing programme provision, and certification services (collectively known as conformity assessment).

Accreditation operates in the public interest across all market sectors, providing a transparent and impartial assessment of these organisations against internationally recognised standards and other sectoral requirements. Accreditation can be deemed as a passport of trust that enables goods and services to freely circulate on the single market without needing additional testing, inspection, or certification in the member state they are imported and sold.

This is likely to reinforce long-term growth in multilateral and bilateral trade relationships and augment the value of the ILAC/IAF mutual recognition arrangements in promoting greater supply chain efficiency and resilience.

The theme highlights how accreditation supports 9 of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through the provision of a trusted platform for defining, developing and verifying requirements for products and services while helping to ensure and demonstrate that products and services meet specified requirements.

Whether through environmental protection performance, helping manage climate change, developing the circular economy or providing tools to measure performance, accreditation and conformity assessment are constantly reviewing and evolving to ensure that the right tools are available to support the SDGs both now and moving forward.

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) include: SDG 1: No Poverty; SDG 2: Zero Hunger; SDG 3: Good Health and Well-Being; SDG 5: Gender Equality; SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth; SDG 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure; SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities; SDG 14: Life Below Water; and SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals.

The Southern African Development Community Accreditation Service (SADCAS) is a multi-economy accreditation body established in terms of Article 17 (3)(b) of the technical barriers to trade (TBT) Annex to the SADC Protocol on Trade as the accreditation body to those Member Countries of SADC who do not have a national accreditation body or whose national accreditation body provide only a limited scope of accreditation. Within the SADC region, only South Africa and Mauritius have their own National accreditation Body.

The remaining 14 countries namely: Angola, Botswana, Comoros, and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

SADCAS mission is to provide credible, Cost effective accreditation services for SADC Members aimed at supporting trade, enhance the protection of consumers and the environment and improve the competitiveness of SADC products and services in both the voluntary and regulatory areas.

SADCAS accreditation services and training on accreditation associated activities. SADCAS offers accreditation programmes for calibration /testing /medical laboratories, inspection bodies, verification bodies and certification bodies.