Seychelles commemorates World Accreditation Day |09 June 2022

June 9, 2022 marks World Accreditation Day (#WAD2022), a global initiative established by the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation and the International Accreditation Forum to promote the value of accreditation.

This year’s theme ‘Accreditation: Sustainability in Economic Growth and the Environment’, highlights how accreditation supports 9 out of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) notably SDG number 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15.

Accreditation is an attestation of the competence and impartiality of conformity assessment bodies (CABs) to carry out specific conformity assessment tasks. These bodies include but not limited to calibration laboratories, testing laboratories, inspection bodies, providers of proficiency testing, producers of reference materials, and bodies that certify management systems, products and persons, or undertake verification and validation.

Accreditation supports the above mentioned SDG’s 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.

Accreditation benefits both a country’s domestic economy and its international trade. It helps governments and organisations to meet regulatory and legislative responsibilities and reduce uncertainties in decisions affecting the protection of human health and the environment.

The prioritisation of sustainability in economic growth and the environment is echoed in the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) Vision 2050, which was approved during the 40th SADC Summit held in August 2021. Amongst other objectives, it strives for an industrialised regional economy that sustainably exploits its natural resources. Industrialisation is one of the main drivers of economic growth and sustainable development. Manufactures need to ensure products are of consistent high quality, comply with regulators and standards, and meet specification.

Accreditation enables consumers, suppliers, purchasers and regulators to have confidence that products placed on the market are safe and meet the manufacturers claims made about them.

Rapid economic growth may exhaust resources and create environmental problems for future generations, including the depletion of natural resources, and global warming. To support sustainable economic growth, countries worldwide are shifting from a linear to a circular economy. A circular economy disconnects economic activity from the consumption of finite resources by focusing on repair, reuse, remanufacturing and recycling, thus reducing the production of waste and the use of resources.

Accreditation bolsters regulations that implement principles of circular economy by assessing and verifying the claims of conforming companies and organisations.

A sustainable environment for communities in the future needs cleaner energy, reduced pollution, and more effective chemical and waste management solutions to benefit from increased industrialisation while safeguarding people and the environment. Accredited testing, certification, and inspection provides assurance that waste management and recycling are being managed effectively.

Third party conformity assessment services (testing, calibration, inspection and certification) ensure compliance of products, services and systems with the requirements specified or claimed. Accreditation of a conformity assessment body (CAB) provides assurance that its results are trustworthy and reliable. By verifying compliance with standards, accreditation protects consumers and removes technical and economic barriers to trade, providing opportunities for products and services to go global.

Signatories to the IAF Multilateral Recognition Arrangement and ILAC Mutual Recognition Arrangement (MRA) recognise each other’s accreditations as equivalent with the aim of ‘Accredited once, accepted everywhere’.

SADCAS – the Regional Accreditation Body

The Southern African Development Community Accreditation Service (SADCAS) is a multi-economy accreditation body established in terms of Article15 B of the Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) Annex to the SADC Protocol on Trade with the primary purpose of ensuring that conformity assessment service providers operating in those SADC member states which do not have national accreditation bodies are subject to an oversight by an authoritative body.

SADCAS services the accreditation needs of 14 SADC member states namely: Angola; Botswana; Comoros; Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC); Eswatini; Lesotho; Madagascar; Malawi; Mozambique; Namibia; Seychelles; Tanzania; Zambia; and Zimbabwe. SADCAS provides accreditation services to organisations that perform calibration, testing including medical testing, inspection, certification (personnel, product and management systems) and those that provide legal metrology services against international standards.

SADCAS is signatory to the African Accreditation Cooperation (AFRAC) and the International Laboratory Accreditation (ILAC) Mutual Recognition Arrangements (MRA) for the testing and calibration laboratories accreditation schemes in accordance with ISO/IEC17025 achieved in November 2015, and medical testing in accordance with ISO15189 and inspection in accordance with ISO/IEC17020 achieved in October 2017. SADCAS is also signatory to the AFRACMRA and the International Accreditation Forum’s Multi-Lateral Arrangement (IAFMLA) under the Main scope Management Systems Sub-scopes:

• ISO/IEC17021-3 - Quality Management System (QMS) in accordance with ISO9001 achieved on November 9, 2019.
• ISO/IEC17021-2 - Environmental Management System (EMS) in accordance with ISO14001 achieved on June 19, 2020.
• ISO/IECTS17021-10 - Occupational Health Safety Management System (OHSAS) in accordance with ISO45001 achieved on June 19, 2020.
• ISO/TS22003 – Food Safety Management System (FSMS) in accordance with ISO 45001 achieved on October 14 2021.

Hence the accreditation certificates issued by SADCAS for all the above accreditation schemes are internationally recognised.

SADCAS is now in its 14thyear of operation and accreditations continue to grow in terms of field and scope of accreditation, sectorial coverage and also in terms of geographical diversity. As at April 31, 2022, SADCAS has issued 257 accreditation certificates to 207 accredited facilities in 13 SADC member states and two (2) non-SADC countries ‒ Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire. At the same time, SADCAS had 74 accreditation applications from 12 SADC member states at the various stages of processing. SADCAS has cumulatively conducted 225 training courses in most SADC member states as part of its efforts to develop capacity of conformity assessment bodies for accreditation. SADCAS services are focused on the priority sectors for sustainable development in selected value chains as identified in the SADC industrial policy.

Seychelles’ accredited laboratories

There are testing and calibration laboratories in Seychelles which are accredited for certain tests and calibration service in accordance to the international standard ISO/IEC 17025. These are the Environment Laboratory, Food Chemistry Laboratory and National Metrology Laboratory at the Seychelles Bureau of Standards (SBS) and the Drug Quality Control Laboratory of the Health Care Agency under the Ministry of Health.

All these local accredited laboratories were accredited by SADCAS. The accredited testing/calibration services provided by these local laboratories are also making their contributions towards the achievement of one or more of the UN SDGs.

To commemorate this occasion, the Seychelles Bureau of Standards (SBS) as the National Accreditation Focal Point for Seychelles (NAFP Seychelles) is organising a half-day workshop today at the SBS Conference Room, Providence.

This half-day workshop will focus on the benefit and value of accreditation and will target policy makers/regulators and conformity assessment service providers (inspection, testing & medical laboratories and certification bodies).

Press release from the Seychelles Bureau of Standards