The Emirates Authority for Standardisation and Metrology, ESMA, has revealed its contribution to the revision of the requirements of the ISO 17025 standard in the UAE.

The move seeks to ensure that the new technological changes in the industry and markets in the country and the region have been met since the last edition of the standard, which was revised during the current year.

Khalaf Khalaf, Director of the Standards Department, said this in a speech on behalf of Abdullah Al Maeeni, Director-General of ESMA. This was during his participation in the training course on ISO 17025, organised by the authority from 17th to 19th October, 2017, at the Conrad Hotel in Dubai.

"The event is in co-operation with the International Organisation for Standardisation, ISO, at a time when the UAE has 85 laboratories for testing and calibration in various fields of measurement, which are ISO-certified with the global authority in demonstrating the reliability of their results," Khalaf said.

The UAE began the review of the ISO 17025 requirements in February 2015, as there was a need to review the coverage of the new technical changes that the industry and markets have experienced since the last release. The standard also takes into consideration the new ISO 9001 edition of 2015 and the adoption and harmonisation of the standard with conformity assessment criteria such as the ISO/17000 series on conformity assessment.

In co-operation with ISO, ESMA organised a training course on the updated ISO standard. It was attended by more than 35 representatives from Arab countries and members of ISO to keep abreast of technological changes and developments in the industrial and productive sectors.

Khalaf said that the continuous update and revision of the specifications are in line with the objectives of ESMA and its leading role in the region and the Middle East in spreading the culture of quality and improving the production, processing and trade conditions.