ARAC Update
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ARAC new membership
On 20 April 2017, the following Accreditation Bodies were accepted as new ARAB Accreditation Cooperation (ARAC) members:
• Accreditation Affairs Section (KAAS), Public Authority for Industry (PAI), state of Kuwait, as ARAC Associate member
• Emirates National Accreditation System (ENAS), Emirates Authority for Standardization & Metrology (ESMA), United Arab Emirates (UAE), as ARAC Full member
Following this acceptance, ARAC includes 17 members (12 Full members and 5 associates) covering 17 Arab countries.
ARAC Strategy 2016 - 2021
The ARAC Strategy 2016-2021 was approved by the General Assembly members as Administrative Document “ARAC AD 004” on 7 November 2016. An Executive Committee Strategy Session was conducted on 20 February 2017 in Dubai, UAE, in the margin of the ARAC Annual Meetings held from 19-23 February 2017.
As an output of this Strategy session, an implementation plan was prepared and each ARAC Committee Chair with their committee members began preparing their corresponding work plan based on the ARAC Strategy Implementation plan.
ILAC&IAF Evaluation of ARAC
As a first step in the IAF&ILAC Evaluation of ARAC, the IAF&ILAC Evaluation team members conducted the Evaluation of the ARAC Secretariat from 20-22 September 2016 in the ARAC offices.
As a follow-up of the evaluation of the ARAC Secretariat, the ILAC&IAF Peer evaluation team members witnessed three ARAC Peer evaluations and a MLA Group meeting.
ILAC&IAF Peer Evaluation Team and ARAC Team
ARAC Experienced Peer Evaluators Workshop
In the margin of its 5th Annual meeting, ARAC organized a workshop for the ARAC Experienced Peer Evaluators. The purpose of this workshop was:
• Updating knowledge including highlighting the changes in the A-Series documents, tools and forms such as the report templates for the evaluations of the Accreditation Bodies
• Information and discussion about the new and updated ARAC Peer evaluation process documentations and requirements
• Information and discussion about the use of the new applicable ARAC forms during the Peer evaluations
• A session on the writing of findings via the use of examples
More than 12 ARAC qualified Peer evaluators participated in this workshop, which was witnessed by the ILAC and IAF Peer evaluators.
participants at the ARAC Experienced Peer Evaluators Workshop
5th ARAC General Assembly and annual committees meetings
ARAC held very successfully its fifth Annual Meetings in Dubai, UAE from 19-23 February 2017. These meetings were witnessed by the ILAC&IAF Regional Peer evaluators within the framework of the ILAC&IAF evaluation of ARAC.
Significant achievements were made at these meetings, mainly the following:
• There has been substantial growth in the ARAC MLA signatories, new members have joined and extended their MLA: The ARAC Jordanian Accreditation System JAS and the Dubai Accreditation Center DAC
• Preparation of the ARAC Strategy 2016-2021 implementation plan
• Preparation for the upcoming steps of the ILAC&IAF Peer evaluations
• Starting the establishment of the ARAC Action plan to prepare for the new publication of the new version of the standard ISO/IEC 17011:2017
• A great number of resolutions were adopted by the General Assembly members
Participants at the 5th ARAC GA meeting
ARAC Cooperation with the other Regional Cooperation Bodies
ARAC continues to work closely with the other Regional Cooperation Bodies to implement the Signed MoUs and to identify further areas for cooperation.
Upcoming ARAC key events
ARAC Mid-Term meetings
The future ARAC Mid-Term meetings will be held from 22-26 July 2017 in Tunisia.
The contact details of ARAC Secretariat are:
ARAC Secretariat
Email : secretariat@arabarac.org
The new website address is: http://www.arac-accreditation.org
Phone number: + 212 600 78 56 78
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