DAkkS advises of its compliance with economic sanctions
As a member of the European Union, Germany has responded to Russia’s attack on Ukraine with severe economic sanctions. These sanctions may also have an impact on accreditation and the work of accredited bodies. Deutsche Akkreditierungsstelle GmbH (DAkkS) is carrying out a comprehensive review of the sanctions imposed and the impact on its own activities. In addition, DAkkS would also like to advise accredited conformity assessment bodies (CABs) of their responsibility to review the applicable sanctions.
Impact on DAkkS activities
DAkkS is suspending all of its activities in Russia on the basis of its individual contractual arrangements. It will not issue accreditations there, nor will it assess bodies there that, for example, act as so-called “critical locations” of accredited bodies. This also applies to subcontracts. DAkkS will also not conduct any other type of audit. As a consequence, DAkkS can no longer include locations or offices of accredited bodies in Russia on accreditation certificates. Since DAkkS in Russia will also not assess any activities of bodies based outside Russia and will not carry out witness audits there, these activities also cannot be carried out within the scope of a DAkkS accreditation.
Impact on the work of accredited bodies
Accredited bodies are in principle themselves responsible for bringing their business, certificates and contractual rules into line with the impact of the sanctions. DAkkS expects CABs to ensure that they are operating in full compliance with the currently applicable sanctions and that they are not providing conformity assessment activities accredited by DAkkS to persons or establishments affected by relevant sanctions. In addition, CABs must ensure that any relevant monitoring obligations are fulfilled.
DAkkS strongly recommends that CABs keep themselves continuously informed of developments and that they carefully review existing activities in order to ensure compliance with the sanctions and provisions of the embargo, and their ability to continue to offer their services within the framework of applicable law. CABs affected by these measures can refer to the information and contact point provided by the Federal Office for Economic Affairs and Export Control (BAFA).
The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK) also offers relevant information on its website:
DAkkS also advises that in addition to German and European sanction lists, the sanction lists of other countries may also be applicable to conformity assessment bodies, for example US sanction lists if the IAF logo is used on certificates.
As Germany’s national accreditation body and a member of the international organisations EA, ILAC and IAF, DAkkS is committed to democratic cooperation, respectful partnerships and the goal of building mutual recognition across borders.
DAkkS is deeply saddened by the war in Ukraine and expresses its solidarity with the people of Ukraine and its colleagues at the National Accreditation Agency of Ukraine (NAAU).
DAkkS firmly supports all efforts by the international community to end the conflict as quickly as possible and to restore compliance with international law.
