- Welcome Guest
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The Spring Laboratory Committee Meeting
The Laboratory Committee met on 26 and 27 March in Bratislava, Slovakia, to discuss the following topics:
Following the summary report on the WS Subcontracting, a breakout session will be held during the next LC meeting in September 2025 to focus on policy related to:
The EA LC Working Group (WG) Health Care
The EA LC Working Group (WG) Health Care met in Skopje, North Macedonia, on 5 and 6 December.
Members attended a half-day workshop regarding challenges encountered in the transition of accreditation of medical laboratories to EN ISO 15189:2022. The outcome of the 7 working groups will be used for the coming meetings of the WG.
During the meeting, several items were presented and discussed:
In addition, participants discussed several questions, such as concerning, metrological traceability, validation and verification issues, and reporting of results. New periodic work items that may be discussed in the WG are related to Artificial Intelligence (AI) used in medical analysis.
The longtime convener of the WG, Rolf Straub, SAS (the Swiss NAB), convened his last meeting and handed over the lead to Hélène Méhay, COFRAC (the French NAB), who started her term in January 2025.
In the Republic of Uzbekistan, a robust mechanism is in place to monitor the health status of the population, ensure the provision of quality medical care, and enforce international standards in the production of medical equipment. This sector is governed by a series of resolutions and pertinent documents issued at both governmental and ministerial levels.
The Government has actively adopted international standards to safeguard public health, including those defined by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). Notably, standards such as ISO 15189 and ISO 13485 have been introduced in recent years to enhance the quality of medical services and products.
The quality infrastructure in Uzbekistan is increasingly focused on integrating these standards and evaluating compliance during accreditation processes. The National Accreditation System prioritises the expansion of the service sector, recognising its vital role in ongoing development and public welfare. While the achievement of international recognition is commendable, the ongoing maintenance and improvement of standards remain critical.
The State Enterprise Uzbek Center for Accreditation (O’ZAKK) successfully achieved international recognition in several scope, including in Medical Device Quality Management Systems as per ISO 13485. This standard emphasises quality management systems in the production of medical devices and has received official recognition under the International Accreditation Forum (IAF) Multilateral Recognition Arrangement (IAF MLA).
In Uzbekistan, both state-owned and private enterprises, ranging from large corporations to small businesses, are engaged in manufacturing of medical equipment. The quality of these medical products has a direct bearing on public health, making the production of safe medical devices a fundamental governmental responsibility in safeguarding consumer rights.
A comprehensive set of legal instruments governing product safety has been developed and implemented in Uzbekistan. Currently, the state register indicates that over 100 types of medical products are manufactured within the country.
Prior to the establishment of the national accreditation body for certifying management system certification bodies for medical device manufacturers, products had already been evaluated by certification bodies against established standards. The training of experienced assessors and the creation of a qualified service that complies with ISO 13485 are essential tasks within the National Accreditation System today.
Moreover, the push for competitiveness and quality within the industry has led to an expansion of accreditation services. In this regard, O’ZAKK has collaborated with leading accreditation bodies in the Asia-Pacific region, including the Korea Accreditation Board (KAB), achieving favorable outcomes. The qualifications of Uzbek assessors have been significantly enhanced through participation in various international training programs.
As part of a pilot project, one certification body has successfully obtained accreditation and is currently conducting audits to issue certificates of conformity to medical device manufacturers. Additionally, two more certification bodies are undergoing the accreditation process for this standard.
This progress signifies an improvement in the qualifications of Uzbek assessors and the introduction of new directions within the field. It not only fosters increased competition in the domestic market but also expands the options available to manufacturers.
Furthermore, the certification of accredited management systems serves as an effective mechanism for protecting the interests of consumers, regulators, and the broader public, particularly in the healthcare sector.
AFRAC HOLDS TRAINING WORKSHOP ON DECISION MAKING INCLUDING THE ROLE OF THE TASK FORCE GROUP
The African Cooperation in Accreditation (AFRAC) recently organised and conducted a virtual training workshop Decision Making Including the Role of Task Force Groups (TFG). The workshop, sponsored by PTB Germany, was held over two half-days on 14 and 15 January 2025. It was attended by a total of thirty (30) participants drawn from AFRAC and Southern African Development Community cooperation in Accreditation (SADCA) MRA Committee and Council members, peer evaluators, trainee peer evaluators and TFG members.
AFRAC is a cooperation of accreditation bodies (national and multi-economy), National Accreditation Focal Points (NAFP), sub-regional accreditation cooperations and stakeholders. The objective of AFRAC is to provide internationally recognised and accepted accreditation support to industry and to contribute to the protection of health and safety of the public and the protection of the environment, thereby facilitating trade and contributing to the improvement of Africa’s competitiveness within the global market. The AFRAC MRA Committee plan and manage the implementation and maintenance of AFRAC’s MRA. Peer evaluations are undertaken by a pool of qualified and registered peer evaluators. Decisions on and management of membership in the MRA is the responsibility of the MRA Council. The AFRAC MRA Committee and Council membership has been changing over the years with new members being admitted. Peer evaluators are also continually being trained, qualified, upgraded and registered.
The last training on AFRAC Decision Making Process was held on 6 July 2023. However, some new members of the MRA Committee/Council peer evaluators and trainee peer evaluators have not yet been trained. AFRAC-related documents are continuously being revised/developed. All those involved are required to be fully aware of the decision-making process and follow it consistently at all times. It is for this reason that AFRAC arranged the January workshop.
The Training workshop which was facilitated by Mrs. Maureen P Mutasa was opened by the AFRAC Secretariat, Ms. Fikile Skosana who welcomed the participants, wished them a successful workshop and declared the training workshop open. The Facilitator, welcomed participants from both AFRAC and SADCA, introduced herself and gave background to the training workshop. She then asked participants to introduce themselves outlining their name, position in AFRAC/SADCA, name of accreditation body and position in accreditation body (AB). She informed participants about the objective of the training workshop, which was to impart knowledge on decision-making processes regarding evaluations of an AB including the role of the TFG, and to exchange experiences and knowledge through group discussions, so as to ensure consistent and harmonised decision making.
In her opening remarks the Facilitator thanked PTB Germany for sponsoring the training, the AFRAC Secretariat for her engagement and more importantly the opportunity to share knowledge and experiences, noting that the Facilitator was the immediate past AFRAC MRA Council chair, MRA Committee member and also served on the International Accreditation Forum (IAF) decision making body on evaluations IAF Multilateral Arrangement Committee (MLAC) amongst many other positions in AFRAC, SADCA, IAF and ILAC.
The Facilitator started the workshop by giving an overview of the AFRAC peer evaluation process, highlighting the relevant evaluation documents, some of which had been revised since the last training, the purpose of evaluations, the stages in the evaluation process, establishment of a TFG, consideration of the final evaluation report, and TFG summary review before submission to the MRA Council for decision making.
After the break, the Facilitator presented the terms of reference of the MRA Council covering the functions, composition, responsibilities, meetings and voting rights of MRA Council members. She then outlined the decision-making process, highlighting the role of all the players in this process. Time was spent on the competences and role of the TFG. The Facilitator then walked participants through F017: TFG Evaluation Summary Report and Recommendations to the MRA Council. She outlined all the 10 sections of F 017 and what information was to be completed under each section.
On Day 2 the Facilitator started by presenting two examples of duly completed F 017, highlighting the comments made, collaborations of the TFG with the Evaluation Team and the AB, and the recommendations. She recapped on the subjects covered on Day 1 of the workshop. She also explained classification and closing of findings from evaluations, which members should have a good understanding of, as this is an aspect for consideration in reviewing final evaluation report. She outlined the decision-making process and how, through the process as outlined in AFRAC M001, the MRA Council ensures fair, professional and impartial decisions. The documents for review by the MRA Council in the decision-making process were laid out as were the stages leading to the decisions. The timelines for the processes were highlighted, to ensure timely decisions. The Facilitator also covered the hierarchy of decisions on new applicant AB and MRA signatories, including reasons for and consequences of suspensions/withdrawal. Decisions on joint evaluations were also covered in detail.
Throughout the workshop the participants asked many questions and made numerous comments which were discussed by the group, drawing on the experiences of some of the participants. Areas of improvement to the MRA processes were identified. The interactions throughout the training workshop were very.
Based on feedback from the participants the overall feedback was that the workshop was well planned, organised and presented, and the content was very relevant. Training materials were circulated by the AFRAC Secretariat to all participants and those who were unable to attend the
EUROLAB is delighted to partner with different organisations to host various upcoming events, which will allow laboratory and conformity assessment professionals, researchers, as well as other interested stakeholders, to gain valuable insights into best practices, validation processes, and key challenges in measurement procedures and certified reference materials. Participants will have the opportunity to engage with experts, explore real-world applications, and enhance their understanding of critical industry standards and trends.
EUROLAB and Eurachem will co-host a webinar “How to Validate Measurement Procedures Including Sampling (VaMPIS).” The event will take place on 19 June from 10:00 – 13:00 CET, online via Zoom.
High-level speakers and authors of the VaMPIS guide will provide valuable insights on the key best practices and validation of measuring procedures, with practical examples and guidelines. Moreover, guidance on the applications of VaMPIS to in-situ and ex-situ measurements will be provided. The management of the whole measurement process, including follow-up after validation will also be a topic of discussion during the webinar.
Participants will have the opportunity to address questions and further clarify any possible uncertainties directly with the authors and experts in the field during the roundtable discussion.
The event is free-of-charge and you can register at the following registration link.
EUROLAB-ASSOTIC Seminar
On Wednesday, September 17 from 10:00-13:00 CEST, EUROLAB and ASSOTIC will host a seminar on Certified Reference Materials – trends, challenges & opportunities alongside the IMEKO Joint Conference TC8-TC11-TC24, in Torino, Italy.
Certified Reference Materials (CRMs) play a critical role in analysing and testing, by providing standardised and traceable benchmarks to ensure the reliability, accuracy, and consistency of measurements and analytical results. Laboratories can ensure the reliability of their data, build trust with clients, and comply with industry and regulatory standards by using CRMs. However, there are several challenges when it comes to the use of CRMs. The seminar aims to offer an overview of the current context, trends and critical issues, with the intent of enhancing dialogue among the different affected groups, while sharing best practices.
If you are interested in attending the seminar, you can register here: Registration page.
See our website for all recent news and updates
1. 12th ARAC Annual Meetings: Advancing Accreditation and Strategic Vision
The 12th Annual Meetings and General Assembly of the Arab Accreditation Cooperation (ARAC) were successfully held on December 18-19, 2024, in Makkah, Saudi Arabia, hosted by the Saudi Accreditation Center (SAAC).
The event brought together over 50 participants from Arab Accreditation Bodies and key stakeholders, marking a pivotal moment for regional collaboration in accreditation. Key achievements included the enhancement of ARAC MLA signatories’ recognition scopes, the extension of the ARAC MLA structure, and the acceptance of new stakeholders. A major highlight was the launch of the development process for the new ARAC Strategy 2026-2030, which aims to align accreditation practices with emerging global trends and sustainable development goals.
These milestones reinforce ARAC’s role as a leading accreditation body, fostering confidence in regional and global trade while supporting sustainable economic growth across the Arab region.
2. New ARAC Stakeholder member: United Group of Conformity Assessment Bodies (UGCAB)
Significant growth ARAC membership has been achieved with the acceptance of the Saudi Green Building Forum (SGBF), KSA, as an ARAC Stakeholder Member in March 2025.
The participation of interested parties in ARAC fulfills two primary objectives. First, it strengthens trust among stakeholders in the accreditation process. By engaging a broad spectrum of voices—including industry representatives, regulatory authorities, conformity assessment bodies (CABs), and consumers—ARAC reinforces the transparency, credibility, and acceptance of its accreditation framework. This inclusive approach facilitates mutual recognition of ARAC’s systems, a critical factor in advancing quality infrastructure throughout the Arab region.
Second, stakeholder involvement enables these parties to actively share insights and feedback with ARAC. Their contributions help shape policies, technical standards, and conformity assessment practices, ensuring alignment with sector-specific needs and expectations. This collaborative dialogue keeps ARAC adaptive to market trends, regulatory changes, and technological developments. Moreover, it fosters the harmonisation of accreditation practices, reducing trade barriers and promoting compliance with international standards across member states.
3. ARAC Capacity Building activities
As part of the ARAC Capacity Building Committee’s program implementation, and in line with efforts to strengthen the skills of personnel from ARAC Accreditation Bodies (ABs) and ARAC Peer Evaluators involved in the accreditation process, the following capacity-building initiatives have been successfully conducted:
3.1. Workshop on the New ILAC P9:1/2024 Policy – 19th & 20th November 2024
This workshop focused on the implementation of the new version of ILAC P9, with the main objectives as the following:
3.2. ARAC Regional Transition Workshop for ISO 15189:2022 – 25th & 26th December 2024
This workshop covered the following topics
3.3. ARAC Regional Training Workshop on ISO/IEC 17029 and ISO 14065 – 13th & 14th January 2025
This workshop organised as part of the ARAC Capacity Building Committee’s Work Plan, aimed to achieve the following main objectives:
4. Activities to Promote the IAF MLA and ILAC MRA:
A study has been developed to assess the impact and benefits of accreditation in the Arab Region, employing a two-pronged approach. The study aims to:
a. Comprehensively evaluate the advantages of accreditation across the Arab region, with a focus on its impact on key areas such as:
b. Assess the impact of strengthening the accreditation ecosystem, including:
5. ARAC Unveils Comprehensive Approach for Developing New Strategy 2026-2030:
The ARAC strategic development process for the ARAC Strategy 2026-2030 has been launched, marking a significant step toward strengthening the region’s accreditation infrastructure. A dedicated Steering Committee has been established to oversee and guide the strategy’s development, ensuring it aligns with ARAC’s long-term vision and the evolving needs of its members and stakeholders.
The new strategic framework will prioritise enhancing ARAC’s role in promoting quality, fostering collaboration, and supporting the sustainable growth of the Arab accreditation system. To achieve this, the development process will include extensive consultations with members and stakeholders, ensuring the strategy is both forward-thinking and responsive to the dynamic challenges and opportunities within the accreditation landscape.
This comprehensive approach underscores ARAC’s commitment to advancing regional cooperation, driving innovation, and maintaining high standards of accreditation across the Arab world. The ARAC Strategy 2026-2030 is set to play a pivotal role in shaping the future of accreditation, ensuring it remains robust, inclusive, and adaptable to the changing global environment.
6. 6th Edition of the Arab Accreditation Week:
The 6th Edition of the Arab Accreditation Week 2025, AA 2025, will be held in June 2025 under the theme “How Accreditation Empowers Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the Arab Region,” the event will highlight the critical role of accreditation in enhancing SME competitiveness, market access, and trust.
The week-long program will feature capacity-building workshops, awareness sessions, and panel discussions with key stakeholders, including policymakers, industry leaders, conformity assessment bodies, and SME representatives. Participants will explore how accredited conformity assessment supports SMEs in meeting regulatory requirements, improving product quality, and expanding into regional and global markets.
BAB’s Efforts to Strengthen Bangladesh’s Quality Systems and Global Trade
The Bangladesh Accreditation Board (BAB) is the only national accreditation body mandated by law, to provide accreditation services to different conformity assessment bodies (CABs) operating in the country. Since its establishment, BAB has been playing a key role in improving national quality systems, building trust in local conformity assessment services, and helping local products and services gain acceptance in global markets. This shows BAB’s strong focus on quality, innovation, teamwork and supporting the country’s long-term economic growth.
To encourage and promote BAB accreditation, BAB builds partnerships with regulators, industries, universities, and international organisations. To improve product/service quality, ensure safety, and build trust in conformity assessment activities, BAB has launched a series of initiatives such as training programs for CABs and regulators to upgrade their skills, public awareness campaigns to explain how accreditation protects consumers, and how Mutual Recognition Arrangements ensure global acceptance of results from BAB-accredited CABs and boosts trade.
In 2024-2025, BAB trained 207 technical personnel from local CABs, universities, and government agencies, hosting six training sessions on different international standards and technical topics. These programs helped participants stay updated with global best practices and customers’ requirements. BAB is also working to sign three MoUs with regional and international development partners and peer organisations by the 2025-2026 financial year, to develop the capacity of accreditation schemes and improve institutional capacity supporting cross-border trade in agricultural and food products.
BAB works tirelessly to create a culture of quality and trust in CABs serving in the healthcare, environment and export sectors, to ensure their competency to generate reliable and technically valid testing results. BAB also works to expand its facilities to the divisional level, to make its service more people-oriented and easily accessible. BAB has been successful in bringing public laboratories of the country under its accreditation schemes. Some of the key BAB-accredited public laboratories include: Testing Laboratories & National Metrology Laboratory (Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institute), Analytical Chemistry Laboratory (Bangladesh Atomic Energy Center), National Control Laboratory (Drug Administration), Quality Control Laboratories ( Department of Livestock Services and Department of Fisheries), National Food Safety Laboratory (Institute of Public Health), Plant Disease Diagnostic Laboratory & Pesticide Analytical Laboratory (BARI), Institute of Technology Transfer and Innovation, Leather Research Institute Laboratory, Institute of National Analytical Research and Services (BCSIR) Textile Testing and Consultation Services (Bangladesh University of Textiles (BUTEX). Dhaka Laboratory, Department of Environment. These laboratories play a vital role in monitoring the quality of products and services and ensuring compliance with regulatory and customer requirements.
BAB actively works with regional and global partners to facilitate regional and international cooperation in accreditation. On 26 February 2025, Dr. Shahzad Afzal, Director General of the South Asian Regional Standards Organization (SARSO) met BAB’s Director General, Mr. Md. Anwarul Alam at BAB’s head office. They emphasised stronger collaboration among SAARC countries in setting common standards and strengthening strong regional cooperation in accreditation.
As Bangladesh works towards its development goals, BAB remains central for promoting the “Made in Bangladesh” campaign by ensuring quality, reliability, and global trust of its products and paving the way for their global acceptance. It is expected that BAB will continue this progress and further accelerate the country’s quality movement.
According to the International Labor Organization (ILO) [1], in the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) countries, a unit increase in public health expenditure increases long-term Gross National Income growth by about one percentage point. However, according to the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO), Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) represent, depending on the UEMOA member states, between 80% and 95% of the companies surveyed [2]. Based on this observation, investing in health, particularly the fight against diseases, could be crucial to support economic development in UEMOA member states. This article highlights the role of accreditation in the fight against two major infectious diseases in the world, particularly in Africa, namely tuberculosis and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS).
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease caused by a mycobacterium, the Koch bacillus, which most commonly affects the lungs but can also affect other organs. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) [3], 1.25 million people died from tuberculosis in 2023. An estimated 10.8 million people contracted tuberculosis worldwide in 2023. TB is present in all countries and age groups. However, it is a preventable and treatable disease. Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis continues to cause a public health crisis and remains a threat to health security. Ending the tuberculosis epidemic by 2030 is one of the health-related targets of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
AIDS is an infectious disease caused by human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). HIV weakens the immune system, making the individual vulnerable to other infections. HIV is a sexually transmitted infection. Research has identified drugs to combat the virus, discovered in 1983. It is important to note the importance of prevention and early diagnosis. According to the WHO [4], HIV remains a major public health problem worldwide, resulting in 40.4 million deaths to date, and continues to be transmitted in every country worldwide. An estimated 39.0 million people were living with HIV at the end of 2022, more than two-thirds of them in Africa. In 2022, 630,000 people died from HIV-related causes and 1.3 million acquired HIV. There is no cure for HIV infection. However, HIV has become a chronic condition that can be managed, with the potential for long and healthy lives. Ending HIV by 2030 is among the health-related targets of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
The West African Accreditation System (SOAC WAAS) is the accreditation body for UEMOA member states [5]. As part of its policy to support the health policies of its member states, SOAC WAAS has developed a specific accreditation scheme for the medical sector. With a rate of 21%, this sector is second to have the largest number of conformity assessment bodies accredited by SOAC WAAS. These are laboratories accredited according to the ISO 15189 standard. It should be noted that SOAC WAAS ISO 15189 accreditation scheme is covered by the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) mutual recognition agreements since 2022. Laboratories accredited for HIV and tuberculosis testing represent 74% of the total, with 26% for tuberculosis and 46% for HIV respectively. These results were made possible thanks to the strong involvement of international cooperation. Thus, accreditations in the field of HIV were obtained with the support of United States of America (USA) cooperation, while those in the field of tuberculosis mobilized various partners such as the Global Fund, under the coordination of the Supranational Laboratory for Tuberculosis in Benin (SRL-Cotonou). The intervention of SRL-Cotonou and its network of partners has enabled tuberculosis testing laboratories located outside UEMOA to benefit from SOAC accreditation, particularly in Cameroon and Gabon.
Thus, the UEMOA countries’ accreditation system, supported by SOAC WAAS, participates to meet the expectations of member states in terms of public health. However, the risks of reduced international cooperation in health, partly driven by the vision of the new USA authorities, should encourage all stakeholders to find other ways to maintain the results achieved in the fight against infectious diseases in Africa such as tuberculosis and AIDS. In doing so, economic development in UEMOA member states, primarily driven by SMEs, would not be compromised.
[1]https://www.ilo.org/sites/default/files/wcmsp5/groups/public/%40ed_dialogue/%40sector/documents/publication/wcms_892131.pdf
[2]https://www.bceao.int/fr/content/presentation-du-dispositif-de-soutien-au-financement-des-pmepmi
[3]https://www.who.int/en/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/tuberculosis
[4]https://www.who.int/en/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/hiv-aids
[5]The member states of UEMOA are Benin, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo.
For several years, the National Quality Subsystem (grouping of quality infrastructure entities in Colombia) and the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (German Metrology Institute – PTB) have been working together. This cooperation is carried out through a series of projects called “Artical”, whose objective is to strengthen the competent and coordinated services of the National Quality Subsystem.
The third version of the project (Artical III) aims to strengthen quality infrastructure services in Colombia, to promote the circular economy. To this end, the project focuses on the identification of the needs for quality services and the improvement and development of new quality infrastructure services for the circular economy sectors, especially the plastics, construction materials, and electrical and electronic equipment sectors.
Several activities were conducted to develop a methodology that would allow a prioritisation of the sectors and subsequently of the products, in order to focus the search for gaps and unmet needs on the points that generate the greatest impact in environmental and economic terms.
First, to define the sectors on which the program should focus, the Colombian National Accreditation Body (ONAC) developed a methodology to prioritise two of the three sectors initially proposed. The following criteria were considered:
As a result of this analysis, it was concluded that the chains with the greatest potential to generate the necessary impacts are construction and demolition waste (CDW) and plastics; therefore, the project focused on the plastics and construction sectors.
The two prioritised sectors were subjected to a second stage of analysis, in which PTB requested the formation of a Core Group made up of members of the National Metrology Institute of Colombia (INM), the Colombian Institute of Technical Standards and Certification (ICONTEC), the National Association of Colombian Businessmen (ANDI), ONAC and PTB.
The objective of this group was to design and organise a first workshop, within the framework of the Artical III project, in which the different stakeholders would discuss circularity issues in the two prioritised sectors. The purpose of the workshop was to identify gaps and opportunities for improving quality infrastructure services to promote circularity in these value chains.
As input for the development of the workshop, ONAC developed a methodology based on criteria whose objective is to diagnose gaps in metrology, standardisation and accreditation, facilitate the integration of quality services in circular production processes and develop strategies aligned with the Colombian regulatory and sectoral context.
For the construction of the methodology, an analysis was made of several methodologies to stimulate quality in value chains, the methodologies analysed are listed below:
However, after carrying out the analysis, it was determined that no methodology was sufficiently adaptable to the Colombian context, therefore, it was necessary to build a new methodology that would allow combining these approaches to adapt to the needs of the circular economy in Colombia. The new methodology is based on the following criteria, which enable the evaluation of the importance and impact of each of the products and their circular value chain.
These criteria were discussed at the workshop, which took place on February 19, 2025 at ONAC’s facilities and had the participation of different stakeholders, including the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development, Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism, representatives of the plastics and construction sectors, among other relevant actors. The participants contributed their ideas and helped to improve the construction of the criteria proposed.
The workshop also provided a space for discussion by sector. In these spaces, the participants most interested in each sector discussed among themselves in order to decide on the products on which the development of new quality infrastructure services should be focused. In this way, the representatives of each sector defined the products, both plastic and construction and the reasons why the viability of some materials is greater compared to others.
Finally, some points in the chain of circularity were identified which the core group considered most relevant to emphasise in the development of the project. These links were discussed by the representatives of each sector and finally subjected to an analysis considering the products previously selected. In this discussion, the quality infrastructure services that could meet the needs of the value chain for each product in the links proposed were identified and listed.
Finally, the exercise was very useful in defining the focus of the Artical III project and allows defining lines of action on the part of the quality infrastructure entities to support the implementation of the circular economy by small and medium-sized enterprises.
Romanas Lacost S.A. is a Costa Rican SME located in Tibás, San José, specialising in the maintenance, calibration, sale, and repair of weighing equipment. Although its main office is in Tibás, its services extend throughout Costa Rica, establishing itself as a key player in the weighing equipment and calibration sector.
Its services are primarily directed at sectors such as the food and pharmaceutical industries, where precision in weighing is crucial to ensure product quality and safety.
Since February 15, 2019, Romanas Lacost has held accreditation from the Costa Rican Accreditation Body (ECA) under the INTE-ISO/IEC 17025:2017 standard for the calibration of non-automatic weighing instruments and standard weights, as described in the accreditation scope LC-143. This accreditation ensures that its laboratory meets the highest international standards for technical competence in calibrations, guaranteeing precise and reliable results.
The accreditation has been fundamental for Romanas Lacost in providing credibility and trust to its clients. This support ensures that calibrated equipment meets rigorous international standards, which is essential in processes where weighing precision is critical. Additionally, it has allowed them to differentiate themselves in the market and serve clients requiring specific certifications to operate, strengthening their position as leaders in the sector.
For Romanas Lacost, accreditation has had a significant impact on customer loyalty. By meeting rigorous international standards, Romanas Lacost builds a reputation based on the quality of its services and the reliability of its results, generating trust and loyalty among its clients. Satisfied customers tend to repeat purchases and recommend services, amplifying the company’s reach through positive word-of-mouth.
As a small and medium-sized enterprise (SME), Romanas Lacost faces challenges such as maintaining consistency and reliability in its services in an environment with growing demand. Accreditation has allowed them to establish standardised processes that guarantee precise and consistent results, facilitating efficient management of workload volume without compromising quality.
Impact on the Sector and Commitment to Excellence
Romanas Lacost’s firm commitment to quality and continuous improvement enables its contribution to sector development through innovative solutions. This has generated a positive impact on the local economy, fostering trust and loyalty among its clients.
In conclusion, Romanas Lacost S.A. is a notable example of how an SME can sustainably grow by meeting high international standards through continuous improvement, allowing the implementation of conformity assessment standards and differentiation. This support and trust have enabled the company to consolidate itself as a reference in calibration and marketing of weighing equipment in Costa Rica. Accreditation has been a strategic factor in strengthening its reputation and retaining customers, promoting sustainable growth in the market.
World Accreditation Day, a yearly initiative established by ILAC and IAF to highlight the value and importance of accreditation, will be held on 09 June 2025.
SMEs are essential to the global economy, driving innovation, creating jobs and supporting local communities. However, these businesses often face challenges such as limited resources, competition and difficulty accessing markets. One tool that SMEs can use to address these challenges is conformity assessment, which can provide assurance that their products, services, processes or procedures meet specified requirements. Accreditation of a conformity assessment body confirms that the body is competent and reliable, providing confidence in its results.
Through accredited conformity assessment, SMEs can demonstrate their commitment to quality, safety, sustainability and compliance with recognised best practices. This can strengthen their reputation and consumer confidence, helping SMEs to attract and retain customers. Additionally, SMEs can increase their business opportunities and market access by proving their compliance with standards and regulations.
Accredited conformity assessment can aid SMEs in identifying areas for improvement in their operations, such as enhancing product quality and streamlining processes. For SMEs seeking funding, accredited conformity assessment can improve access to financial support, by signalling lower risk to lenders and investors. It can also enable the SME to meet requirements for government grants or incentives.
The IAF Multilateral Recognition Arrangement (MLA) and ILAC Mutual Recognition Arrangement (MRA) provide an infrastructure that allows accredited conformity assessment results to be recognised around the world. They enable the acceptance of products and services across borders, by removing the need for them to undergo additional tests, inspections or certification in each economy where they are sold.
As in previous years, IAF and ILAC held a contest to develop the official poster. The winning poster was designed by Joshua Egahi-Ojo Alhassan.
You can download the poster, Joint Statement from the IAF and ILAC Chairs, and the WAD Brochure here.
ILAC and IAF will also be holding a virtual event on 09 June, with more information to be released via social media @ILAC_Official on “X” or ILAC on LinkedIn , closer to the date.