The year 2025 marks another milestone in the journey of the Quality and Accreditation Institute – Centre for International Accreditation (QAI CIA), as we continue to expand our global presence and strengthen confidence in accredited conformity assessment services. Guided by our commitment to excellence, transparency, and international cooperation, this year has been both dynamic and transformative for our accreditation programmes.

The year 2025 has been an eventful and fulfilling for the QAI CIA. As we continue to grow and strengthen our presence across the globe, our focus has remained steadfast — to promote confidence in accredited conformity assessment services and foster collaboration within the international accreditation community.

Highlights from 2025:

We started the year on a celebratory note with the accreditation of our 100th testing laboratory in January. This milestone symbolised the trust and confidence that laboratories place in our accreditation programmes. By March, 150 applications had been registered under the Testing Laboratory Accreditation Programme, and we were proud to announce the accreditation of our first testing laboratory in Morocco making a milestone.

APAC Evaluation Team (Vivekananthan Kulasingham-SCC Canada (extreme right) and Mrs. Sirorat Thonhamkaew-TISI Thailand (second from right)

April brought two significant recognitions — QAI CIA achieved Mutual Recognition Arrangement (MRA) status for Calibration under both the Asia Pacific Accreditation Cooperation (APAC) and the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC). These recognitions reinforce our commitment to global harmonisation and the acceptance of accredited results internationally.

In May, we organised the Assessors Conclave, which brought together assessors to share experiences and insights focused on strengthening the competence and consistency of our assessment teams. Later that month, we conducted an Assessor Training Course on ISO/IEC 17025:2017 to enhance our assessor resources.

June marked our first onsite celebration of World Accreditation Day, a wonderful opportunity to honour the contributions of our assessors, laboratories, and stakeholders who make accreditation meaningful.

In July, we hosted an awareness seminar in Thimphu, Bhutan, for Testing, Calibration, and Medical Laboratories. (First of its kind in Bhutan)

This was followed by the receipt of our first application for a Mobile Medical Laboratory as per ISO 15189 and the accreditation of our first Reference Material Producer (RMP) as per ISO 17034:2016.

QAI strongly believes in collaboration. We are very pleased to share that QAI CIA signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the National Centre of Accreditation (NCA) of the Republic of Kazakhstan in the month of July on the sidelines of APAC Annual Meetings in Bengaluru, India.

This collaboration will explore opportunities for both organisations to work together to facilitate trade between the two countries and strengthen each other’s technical capabilities.

August continued the momentum with the accreditation of our first Inspection Body under ISO/IEC 17020:2012.

We were also honoured to receive an application from the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources, Thimphu, Bhutan, for testing laboratory accreditation. The month concluded with a productive update meeting with our Lead Assessors.

October was rewarding, we granted accreditation to two Government Testing Laboratories in Lebanon in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). QAI CIA also accredited the first Mobile Medical Laboratory and the first ISO 15189 accredited Medical Laboratory in Bahrain — remarkable milestones that underscore our growing international outreach. Additionally, we accredited the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) Laboratory in Patna, further strengthening national quality infrastructure.

We remain committed to building a future rooted in trust, competence, and collaboration. Each achievement in 2025 reflects the dedication of our team, assessors, and partners who continue to make accreditation a cornerstone of quality worldwide.