O’ZAKK: Uzbek economy on the way to global markets


The National Accreditation System of the Republic of Uzbekistan has had several developments since the accreditation of conformity assessment bodies was first introduced in 2013 with the adoption of the Law on Conformity Assessment. 

In 2014, the first accreditation program for testing laboratories was introduced by the Uzbek Agency for Standardization, Metrology and Certification in accordance with the requirements of ISO/IEC 17025. In 2014/2015 the accreditation system was extended to inspection and certification bodies of management systems, persons, and products. Institutional reforms in 2017/2018 separated accreditation from other conformity assessment activities. The Center for Accreditation (O’ZAKK) re-established in 2018 and to-date has accredited over 300 conformity assessment bodies.

It should be noted that O’ZAKK’s accreditation services have been fundamentally transformed to better serve interest groups, ensure confidence in the market and demonstrate competence by providing access to the latest information about accredited organizations on the website – www.akkred.uz.

The O’ZAKK team of 55 employees, and pool of 46 assessors and 100 technical experts has been able to expand its presence in the international community through co-operation with the following accreditation bodies: TURKAK (Turkey), ENAS (Emirates), NCA (Kazakhstan), KAB (Korea), Rusaccreditation (Russia) and PCA (Poland).

Another important step for the Uzbek National Quality Infrastructure is the country’s first internationally recognized calibration service, when TURKAK officially accredited the National Metrology Institute of Uzbekistan (O’zMMI) on 22 March 2021 for selected calibrations in the areas of mass, scales, pressure and temperature.

As of February 2018 O’ZAKK is an associate member of APAC. O’ZAKK joined ILAC in March 2018 as an affiliate member and its membership was successfully upgraded to an associate status in April 2020. And in December 2020 O’ZAKK was successfully granted membership status to the IAF. Moreover, O’ZAKK’s experts represent Uzbekistan in ISO/CASCO’s conformity assessment standards development activities and participate as a member of ILAC’s Arrangement Committee (ARC).

O’ZAKK continues its development and will apply for APAC full membership status to become an APAC MRA signatory in 2021 with plans to achieve IAF MLA and ILAC MRA signatory status in 2022.