SADCAS-TUNAC Twinning Partnership Agreement Handover

SADCAS/TUNAC Twinning Partnership Agreement Handover Ceremony T he SADC Accreditation Service (SADCAS) and the Tunisia Accreditation Council (TUNAC) entered into a Twinning Partnership Agreement. The Twinning Partnership Agreement which was negotiated in the spirit of cooperation of accreditation bodies in Africa was signed by both parties on 20 February 2014. The TPA handover ceremony was held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on 26 September 2014 during a ceremony marking the end of the 5th AFRAC Annual General Meeting. The objective of the Twinning Partnership Agreement is to ensure that SADCAS has the necessary infrastructure for the handling of accreditation applications, assessment of conformity assessment bodies and surveillance assessment of accredited facilities in French and using a technically recognized quality management system. Joint assessments will be conducted during which SADCAS assessors conver‐
sant in French will be mentored and monitored, accredita‐
tions will be granted and surveillance assessments will be conducted. Separate certificates will be issued by SADCAS and TUNAC and the accredited facilities shall be listed on both the SADCAS and TUNAC directories of accredited or‐
ganizations. The Agreement is in line with international best practice and is designed to capacitate SADCAS so as to address the From left to right: Ms Jeanne Ranorovelo, SADCAS Technical Manager, accreditation needs of French speaking SADC countries Mrs Maureen Mutasa, SADCAS CEO, Mr Anouar Zouari, TUNAC Direc‐
whilst at the same time assure the credibility of SADCAS tor General and Mr Boughalmi Moez, TUNAC Cooperation and Exter‐
nal Relations Manager accreditations on the market. TUNAC which offers accredi‐
tation services in French is signatory to both the ILAC and IAF accreditation arrangements thus has the levels of expertise and resources in the areas of operation beneficial to SADCAS. Negotiations with TUNAC started in 2012 culminating in the signing of the Agreement on 20 February 2014 having gone through the respective organizations’ Boards of Directors. Prioritized SADCAS Quality Management Sys‐
tem (QMS) documents have been translated into French. As at 26 September 2014 SADCAS has under process 4 ac‐
creditation applications from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) which have already gone through the com‐
pleteness check stage. SADCAS CEO and TUNAC Director General pose for a photo after TPA handover SADCAS CEO & TUNAC Director General congratulate each other after TPA handover 1 Within the Agreement, SADCAS and TUNAC made some undertakings which both organizations have to abide with for successful realization of the objectives of the Agreement. Speaking during the ceremony Mrs Maureen Mutasa the Chief Executive Officer of SADCAS noted that Africa is privileged to have TUNAC, a well‐developed and interna‐
tionally recognized accreditation body which offers services in French. She thanked TUNAC for being ready to facili‐
tate the development of SADCAS a multi economy accreditation body operating in a region where French is one of the 3 official languages. The new Director General of TUNAC Mr Anouar Zouari thanked SADCAS for the confidence in TUNAC and assured SADCAS of their commitment to implement the undertakings in the Agreement thus safeguard the integrity and reputation of TUNAC. He also thanked the AFRAC Secretariat, the host Ethiopian National Accredi‐
tation Office (ENAO) for affording SADCAS and TUNAC this opportunity to handover their signed Twinning Partner‐
ship Agreement. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 2