Second EIAC Statement on COVID-19

Circular no.: EIAC /02/2020 DATE: 18 March 2020
To: All Conformity Assessment Bodies Greetings from Emirates International Accreditation Centre (EIAC) This is in continuation with our previous statement vide Circular no.: EIAC /01/2020, dated 11 March 2020. The EIAC is continuously monitoring the advice to assess the developments and risks following the outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19). With the developing situation in recent days, it has become apparent that due to mandatory and voluntary restrictions imposed on traveling and assembly of people, EIAC may not be able to conduct the assessments utilizing conventional form of assessment. However, EIAC always maintains that the trust and confidence that accreditation provides to the stakeholders is not diminished during normal and challenging times. To ensure that EIAC continues to provide an appropriate level of trust and confidence to the stakeholders and maintains the safety of our assessors and clients, with immediate effect EIAC will be conducting all periodic (surveillance) and re-assessments remotely. This will be the case until at least 15 May 2020. This duration will be subject to ongoing review and may be updated as the situation develops. During this period, no initial assessment and scope extension assessment will be conducted. The remote assessments shall be considered as a part of the planned assessment activity and on-site part of assessment will be conducted once situation becomes normal in coming months. The remote assessments will be conducted via web-meetings, remote documents & records reviews and telephone calls as per EIAC document “Guideline for Extraordinary Circumstances Affecting the Assessment Process EIAC-GD-GEN-001” available on www.eiac.gov.ae Relevant EIAC staff/case manager will be in contact with you in this regard. Should you require any further clarification on this matter, please contact your accreditation case manager in EIAC. We wish you all the best. Amina Ahmed Mohammed Chief Executive Officer Circular no.: EIAC /01/2020. To: All Conformity Assessment Bodies: Greetings from Emirates International Accreditation Centre (EIAC), The EIAC continues to monitor advice to assess the developments and risks following the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The situation has led to safety concerns and travel restrictions in relevant economies that are likely to affect accredited conformity assessment activities, subsequently rescheduling of on-site accreditation assessment visits are expected during the months of March and April 2020. EIAC is also considering the alternative arrangements for the periodic and reassessment visits, including remote assessments in these extraordinary circumstances in line with the decisions of ILAC and IAF. These measures are being put in place to ensure the health and safety of EIAC and conformity assessment body staff, as well as to maintain robust accredited conformity assessment activities and accredited services and products in the best possible way. The advice from UAE government to assess the risks will be continually monitored as the situation develops. We also encourage our accredited CABs to adopt available alternate conformity assessment techniques and necessary safety measures. Please visit www.iaf.nu and www.ilac.org for updates. Should you require any further clarification on this matter, please contact your accreditation case manager in EIAC. We wish you all the best., Amina Ahmed Mohammed Chief Executive Officer