IJCA - Volume 2 - Flipbook - Page 49
2023 | Volume 2, Issue 1
49
increasing trade by reducing nontariff barriers. It is in view of the
mechanism for recognizing the
results of conformity assessment
that Article 6 of the World Trade
Organization (WTO) Agreement on
Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT)
provides that:
Figure 1: Number and types of conformity assessment
bodies (CABs) accredited by SOAC-WAAS in UEMOA Members States
and Republic of Guinea (West Africa)
(SPS) measures. An accreditation
body that has signed international
recognition agreements, such
as SOAC-WAAS, therefore
contributes to removing these
constraints.
International Recognition
of SOAC-WAAS by ILAC and
AFRAC
International recognition of
conformity assessment results is
an essential principle that explains
the existence of international
umbrella organizations in
terms of accreditation, such as
the International Laboratory
Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC)
and the International Accreditation
Forum (IAF). This recognition
is formalized by the signing of
mutual recognition arrangements
by accreditation bodies, after they
have been submitted beforehand
to a rigorous evaluation of their
working method by peers.
Thus, aware of the need to allow
the laboratories it accredits to
be able to have their results
recognized throughout the world,
SOAC-WAAS has embarked on
peer evaluation process. This
process resulted in the signing
of the mutual recognition
agreements of AFRAC and those
of ILAC, for the benefit of SOACWAAS accredited calibration,
testing, and medical laboratories.6
For medical laboratories, it notably
makes it possible to guarantee
the reliability of the analysis.
Also, the patients concerned are
exempted from additional analysis
in the country of destination. The
reliability of the medical tests,
granted by an accreditation,
is also a guarantee of a better
diagnosis and therapeutic followup.
For testing and calibration
laboratories, the international
recognition of SOAC-WAAS
authorizes the acceptance of
their results at the international
level. This increases consumer
confidence in products from
West Africa, and, from a trade
point of view, contributes to
6 https://www.soacwaas.org/reconnaissance-internationale-du-SOAC.html
“… Members shall ensure,
whenever possible, that the
results of conformity assessment
procedures of other Members
are accepted, even where those
procedures differ from their own,
provided that they are satisfied
that such procedures provide
assurance of compliance with
applicable technical regulations
and standards equivalent to their
own procedures …”
One of the instruments that
supports this provision is the
accreditation of conformity
assessment bodies (Article 6.1.1
of the TBT Agreement).7
At the African level, the framework
of the African Continental Free
Trade Area in Africa (AfCFTA),
Annex 6, on Technical Barriers to
Trade (TBT), provides in its article
9 that:
“... the States parties are
responsible for promoting and
facilitating the use of accredited
conformity assessment bodies as
tools to facilitate trade within the
AfCFTA on the continent, etc.” 8
The international recognition
of the results of SOAC-WAASaccredited CABs thus plays a
decisive role in the framework
of trade cooperation between
West Africa and its partners,
such as the European Union and
the United States of America.
It participates, for example,
7 WTO Agreement on Technical Barriers to
Trade (TBT)
8 Annex 6 of the AfCFTA Protocol on Trade in
Goods
