Accreditation

 Road To Quality Products and Services and Key To International Competitiveness

What is accreditation?

An Accreditation system provides a process whereby an independent assessment is carried out to determine the competence of conformity assessment bodies to perform conformity assessment.

Conformity Assessment is the procedure of determining whether products, processes, systems or people meet specified requirements with reference to technical regulations or standards.  The procedures may include sampling, testing, inspection, evaluation and verification.

Examples of Conformity Assessment Bodies

·        Standards Association of Zimbabwe

·        Trade Measures Inspectorate

·        Building and Factories Inspectorate

·        Heath Services Inspectorate

·        Veterinary Inspectorate

Benefits

Accreditation ensures that government, consumers and the general public be confident of the quality and competence of testing, inspection, certification and other conformity assessment services.   An accreditation body ensures that those doing the actual testing, inspecting and certification, as well as the technical equipment that they use, are competent and reliable.

In order to eliminate technical barriers to trade as prescribed by WTO and the SADC Protocol on Trade, industry and Government institutions need to be seen to be conforming to international standards in the productive and services sectors.  Conformity assessment and accreditation are the key factors in achieving this objective.

Reliability of conformity assessment infrastructure contributes directly to business efficiency and to the international competitiveness of the Zimbabwean industry.

Who needs Accreditation?

1.                   Systems Certification Bodies (ISO 9000-2000 series)

2.                   Product Certification Bodies

3.                   Personnel Certification Bodies

4.                   Testing Laboratories

5.                   Calibration Laboratories

6.                   Medical Laboratories

7.                   Veterinary Laboratories

8.                   Inspection Bodies

Zimbabwe has over 150 laboratories operating in areas of quality control, testing, product certification, calibration, health delivery services, veterinary sciences, water and sanitation, chemicals, biological sciences, crop sciences etc.

All above laboratories need to conform to specific international guides and standards in order to attain regional and international credibility and to participate in mutual recognition agreements (MRA’s).

Activities in SADC

The SADC Cooperation in Accreditation (SADCA) was instituted in Pretoria, South Africa in 1996. SADCA has membership of all fourteen SADC member states.

The objective of SADCA is to develop a suitable accreditation infrastructure within the region.  In this regard, the regional organisation is working at establishing a regional accreditation body comprising a poll of assessors  and auditors with suitable technical skills and qualifications in the various scopes of accreditation.

To achieve its objective SADCA requires the active support of SADC governments and industry.

The only operational national Accreditation Bodies in the region are SANAS – the South Africa National Accreditation System and Mauritius of Mauritius.  Zimbabwe has made a start towards establishing the Zimbabwe National Accreditation Services (ZINAS):  This initiative requires the support of both Government and industry.

To create awareness on the economic essence of accreditation in the SADC, national Accreditation Focal Points have been established in all member states to disseminate information relating to accreditation.

NATIONAL ACCREDITATION FOCAL POINT

Superintendent of Trade Measures

Mukwati Building, 13^th Floor

P. Bag 7708

Causeway

Harare

Phone: 707540/791823/7

Fax: 723765/735315