Shqip
English
COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
Brussels, 14.10.2009
SEC(2009) 1337/3
ALBANIA 2009 PROGRESS REPORT
There has been good progress in the area of accreditation. The decision on the internal functioning of the Directorate-General for Accreditation (DGA) adopted in October 2008 provides for further approximation to the European standards and establishes the legal basis for the new Accreditation Board. However, the Board has not yet been set up. The DGA's application for a bilateral agreement with the European Cooperation for Accreditation (EA) in the field of testing laboratories, under the conditions applicable to EA multilateral agreement signatories, was approved in August 2009.
THE WORLD BANK ASSESSMENT
June 24 2009
Notable progress has been achieved by the DA in the advancement of international cooperation. The DA is currently a member of the International Accreditation Forum (IAF), an associate member of the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) and is seeking to achieve signatory status for the multilateral recognition agreement of the European Cooperation for Accreditation (EA), the European network of nationally recognized accreditation bodies. In November 2008 the DA submitted necessary documents and the DA’s application for signatory status was approved during a conference of the EA’s members and signatories hosted by the DA and held in Tirana on March 25 2009. Pre-evaluation of the DA by the EA will take place in late 2009 and, depending on the results of the pre-evaluation the DA is likely to be accepted as a signatory of the multilateral agreement in 2010. Full membership of EA is further in the future and is linked to Albania’s status as a candidate for the EU membership.