Oman marks World Accreditation Day

Muscat, Oman — The Sultanate of Oman, represented by the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion (MoCIIP), joins countries around the world in marking World Accreditation Day, observed annually on 9 June. This year’s theme, ‘Accreditation: Empowering Small and Medium Enterprises,’ sheds light on the role of accreditation in supporting quality, enhancing confidence, enabling innovation, and advancing sustainable development.

Accreditation is a key pillar of the quality infrastructure system, ensuring the competence of conformity assessment bodies, including testing and calibration laboratories, inspection bodies, and certification bodies for management systems, products, and halal certification, in accordance with internationally recognised standards. This contributes to enhancing the reliability of results and services, while strengthening confidence among consumers, investors, and trading partners.

Dr Said bin Sultan Al Busaidi, Director of the Oman Accreditation Centre (OAC), said, “World Accreditation Day provides an important opportunity to highlight the strategic role accreditation plays in supporting economic development and enhancing the competitiveness of various sectors. Accreditation is no longer merely a technical tool; it has become an essential element in building trust, fostering innovation, and ensuring the quality of products and services in line with national and international best practices.”

“The Oman Accreditation Centre continues to develop the national accreditation system in alignment with the goals of Oman Vision 2040. To date, the Centre has accredited six testing laboratories in the Sultanate of Oman in accordance with the international standard ISO/IEC 17025. Work is also underway to assess and accredit additional entities, further strengthening the efficiency of the testing and inspection sector and enhancing confidence in the results of national laboratories both locally and internationally,” he added.

Eng. Hamood Al Harthy, Head of Registration at the OAC, stated that the Centre places significant emphasis on strengthening its regional and international presence. He noted that OAC’s application has been submitted to the Arab Accreditation Cooperation (ARAC) as part of its efforts to obtain international recognition, and that the requirements of the peer evaluation phase, a key milestone in the international recognition process, are currently being completed. He added that the Centre is also continuing its efforts to secure membership in the International Accreditation Forum (IAF), which will further enhance international recognition of the national accreditation system and support the competitiveness of the Oman’s economy.

He emphasised that accreditation contributes to facilitating international trade and reducing technical barriers to trade by promoting the acceptance of test results, reports, and certificates issued by accredited bodies. This, in turn, enhances the access of Oman’s products and services to regional and global markets.

This year’s observance underscores the importance of accreditation in keeping pace with rapid global developments in innovation, emerging technologies, and sustainability, while reinforcing trust and transparency across various economic and service sectors.

The Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion reaffirmed its commitment to continuing the development of accreditation services and promoting a culture of quality and institutional excellence, thereby contributing to the achievement of sustainable development goals and strengthening Oman’s position as a promising regional hub for quality, accreditation, and quality infrastructure.