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Fostering the international recognition of the Armenian Accreditation System in EU

News
28 September 2021

Launched the EU Twinning project to support ARMNAB, the Armenia’s National Accreditation Body, in fulfilling conditions for associate membership at the European Co-operation for Accreditation (EA).

On Friday, 24th of September, 2021, a kick off Conference of the EU funded Twinning project ”Setting conditions for recognition of the Armenian Accreditation System by the European Co-operation for Accreditation” took place at the Ball conference room of Congress Hotel, Yerevan, Armenia.

The project involves a German-Italian Consortium composed of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, DAkkS and Accredia as junior partner, for AMRNAB – Armenia’s National Accreditation Body, the beneficiary.

It is financed by the EU with a budget of 700,000 EUR. Activities started with the implementation phase in June 2021 and will last for 18 months.

The overall objective is to support the implementation of the EU-Armenia Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement (CEPA) with regards to fostering an internationally recognized accreditation and conformity assessment system in Armenia.

The project is geared towards the strengthening of Armenia and EU cooperation with regard to standards, technical regulations, metrology, market surveillance, accreditation and conformity assessment procedures with a view to increasing the mutual understanding of their respective systems and facilitating access to their respective markets.

The specific objective is to support ARMNAB in fulfilling conditions for associate membership at the European Co-operation for Accreditation (EA), achieving the signatory status of EA Bilateral Agreements (BLA).

Expected results are:

  1. The legal and procedural framework revised with respect to ISO/IEC 17011 and the relevant provisions of EU regulation 765/2008/EC.
  2. Enhanced institutional capacity of ARMNAB to provide accreditation in line with the EA rules.

In his opening speech Mr. Frank Hess, Head of Cooperation, EUD Armenia, said “We believe that strengthening quality infrastructure is a complex and time-consuming exercise, being a crucial element in ensuring the competitiveness of the export sector. This twinning aims to support the implementation of the EU – ARMENIA CEPA agreement with regards to fostering internationally recognized accreditation and conformity assessment system in Armenia”. Deputy Minister of Economy Mr. Arman Khojoyan mentioned that the Ministry of Economy is convinced that Armenian economy will have a benefit from this project. Mr. Thomas Facklam – Project leader, German Accreditation Body (DAkkS) emphasized that “The Kick off meeting will be a starting point of the cooperation between German and Italian accreditation bodies and ARMNAB. We will work together in equal level and learn from each other…”, Ms. Ani Obosyan – “National Accreditation Body” State Non-Commercial Organization (ARMNAB), stressed the importance of the project in enhancing the ties between the parties involved and they believe that this project will allow them to be more visible for Europe.

Dr. Stephan Finke, Chief Executive Officer of DAkkS, spoke about the benefits of accreditation for Armenian economy; he focused on trade as one of the main pillars for the recognition, and the fact that trade possibilities will increase thanks to this recognition of Armenian NAB in Europe. Mr. Filippo Trifiletti, General Director of Accredia, mentioned that the recognition will be an important step forward for the Armenian economy; objective of the project is to improve their capability to export and take part to international trade with the support of conformity assessment, that guarantee the quality and safety of Armenian products and services placed on the market. The process will start with a bilateral agreement, Armenia-EU, with the aim to reach a multilateral one, which means recognition all over the world.

The Twinning project was presented by the Resident Twinning Adviser (RTA) Mr. Miklós Devecz and his counterpart Nazik Abgaryan, Quality Manager of ARMNAB. They described the components of the project and the main activities that will be implemented to achieve the objectives set in the project, highlighting the significance of EU-Armenia cooperation for an efficient National Accreditation Body as an effective part of a strong National Quality Infrastructure.