Led by ARAC, the Arab region celebrates the remarkable successes of the Capacity Building Program held during the period June 2023 – March 2024, with more than 2 200 participations from the Conformity Assessment Bodies (CABs) and Accreditation Bodies (ABs) in the Arab region.

This Capacity Building Program has been the significant enhancement of technical skills among professionals in CABs and ABs, through a series of targeted workshops, training sessions, and hands-on experiences, as the following:

• ILAC Policies that should be applied by the Testing, Medical & calibration laboratories, Inspection Bodies and PT Providers, June 2023, 201 participants,
• ISO/IEC 17025 & ILAC P series documents P9, P10 and P14 & Measurement uncertainty, Nov 2023, 64 participants,
• ILAC P15: Application of ISO/IEC 17020 for the accreditation of inspection bodies, Nov 2023, 85 participants,
• Calibration laboratories: Non-contact temperature (infrared) and NFX 15-140 relating to enclosure characterization, December 2023, 43 participants,
• Calibration laboratories: Pressure (calibration of pressure balances and pressure gauges), December 2023, 42 participants,
• Calibration laboratories: Weighing (IPFNA calibration), December 2023, 38 participants,
• Calibration Laboratories: Force (calibration of axial compression and tension testing machines), December 2023, 35 participants,
• Calibration laboratories: Dimensional (calibration of dimensional measuring devices), December 2023, 45 participants,
• Calibration Laboratories: Torque (torque wrench calibration), December 2023, 43 participants,
• ISO/IEC 17024: Conformity assessment General requirements for bodies operating certification of persons, January 2024, 120 participants,
• Evaluation of Conformity Assessment Schemes according to IAF MD 25 and ISO/IEC 17067, January 2024, 83 participants,
• ISO/IEC 17065: Conformity assessment Requirements for bodies certifying products, processes and services, January 2024, 115 participants,
• ISO/IEC 17043:2023 “Conformity assessment, General requirements for the competence of proficiency testing providers”, February 2024, 80 participants
• ISO 13528:2022 “Statistical methods for use in proficiency testing by inter-laboratory comparison”, February 2024, 80 participants,
• ISO/IEC 17020 and its implementation for the inspection activities related to agriculture & fishing products & Equipment & Industrial machines, March 2024, 258 participants,
• Auditing principles according to ISO 19011, March 2024, 240 participants,
• ISO 22003-1: Food safety, Part 1: Requirements for bodies providing audit and certification of food safety management systems and the applicable IAF MDs, March 2024, 158 participants,
• Application of ISO/IEC 17025 for Physicochemical testing laboratories, March 2024, 183 participants,
• Application of ISO/IEC 17025 for Microbiological testing laboratories, March 2024, 151 participants,
• ISO/IEC 17034: 2016 General requirements for the competence of reference material producers, March 2024, 137 participants.

This initiative is a testament to the power of collaborative effort and strategic capacity building in achieving excellence in conformity assessment and accreditation practices. Through its continued dedication to these principles, ARAC is poised to lead the Arab region in enhancing the accreditation infrastructure and trade facilitation.