Mauritius Accreditation Service

Southern African Development Community Cooperation in Accreditation (SADCA) is one of the five structures established by SADC Member States under a Memorandum of Understanding on Standardization, Quality Assurance, Accreditation and Metrology in order to implement the SADC Protocol on Trade. SADCA is a regional framework that focuses on Accreditation to build confidence in the quality of products and services, hence facilitating trade among its members and the outside world. MAURITAS is a member of the regional framework, SADCA

The broad objectives of SADCA are to assist Member States in defining suitable national accreditation infrastructure and to enable them to access accreditation services from other members having internationally reputed Accreditation Bodies within their countries, or to form a regional accreditation body to serve the region. The SADC Cooperation in Accreditation shall facilitate the creation of a pool of internationally acceptable accredited laboratories and certification bodies in the region as a tool to remove technical barriers to trade.

International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) is an international cooperation laboratory and inspection accreditation bodies with the objective to help remove technical barriers to trade.

MAURITAS has been an affiliate member of ILAC since year 2000. MAURITAS is now an associate member of ILAC since November 2008 as it has already started conducting assessments and granting accreditation.

Accreditation allows people to make an informed decision when selecting a laboratory, as it demonstrates competence, impartiality and capability. It helps to underpin the credibility and performance of goods and services.

Accreditation bodies around the world, which have been evaluated by peers as competent, have signed an arrangement that enhances the acceptance of products and services across national borders. The purpose of this arrangement, the ILAC Mutual Recognition Arrangement, is to create an international framework to support international trade through the removal of technical barriers.

The ultimate aim of the ILAC MRAs is the increased use and acceptance by industry as well as by regulators of the results from accredited laboratories and inspection bodies, including results from laboratories in other countries.

The International Accreditation Forum (IAF) is a global association of accreditation bodies, certification/registration body associations and other organisations involved in conformity assessment activities in a variety of fields including management systems, products, services and personnel.

MAURITAS is a member of IAF since the year 2000. The purpose of the IAF was to operate a program for the accreditation of bodies dealing with conformity assessment, in order to ensure that certification of products, processes or services in one region or country should be accepted in other regions or countries.

Also, IAF aimed to ensure that equivalent conformity assessment procedures used by organisations should be developed. One means of doing this was to have member organisations engage in regular discussion to seek agreement on the desirability of mutual recognition of each other’s accreditation systems and to cooperate with one another in exchanging information and procedures on their accreditation programs.

The primary objective of the IAF is to develop a single, worldwide program of conformity assessment, which reduces risk for business and end users by ensuring that accredited certificates may be relied upon. Accreditation assures businesses and end users that the Conformity Assessment Body providing certification to a standard has the required competence and impartiality to do so.

The second objective of the IAF is to establish Multilateral Recognition Arrangements (MLAs) between its accreditation body members. The object of these arrangements is to ensure mutual recognition of accredited certificates between signatories to the MLA.

The Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Cooperation (IOR-ARC), launched in Mauritius in March 1997, is a grouping of nineteen Indian Ocean-rim States, whose aims are to facilitate trade and investment in the region.

Member States include Australia, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Iran, Kenya, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mozambique, Oman, Seychelles, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. China, Egypt, France, Japan and the United Kingdom are Dialogue Partners, while the Indian Ocean Tourism Organisation is an Observer.

IOR-ARC activities include several on-going topical projects and work programs conducted by member countries of shared interests, all of which under the umbrella of 3 separate working groups, namely the Working Group on Trade and Investment (WGTI), the Indian Ocean Rim Business Forum (IORBF), and the Indian Ocean Rim Academic Group (IORAG). The Association holds a Council of Ministers meeting once every two years.

The Association disseminates information on trade and investment regimes, with a view to helping the region’s business community better understand the impediments to trade and investment within the region. These information exchanges have been intended to serve as a basis for the expansion of intra-regional trade.