German and Indian accreditation body plan cooperation

At the end of September, Dr. Stephan Finke, Managing Director of the German accreditation body DAkkS, welcomed Anil Jauhri, CEO of the Indian accreditation body NABCB (National Accreditation Board for Certification Bodies), to talks in Berlin. The focus of the talks was on future cooperation in the area of accreditation.

Both accreditation bodies are contributing to a working group on quality infrastructure established by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and the Indian Ministry of Consumer Affairs. The aim is to promote bilateral trade relations between the two countries.

With the establishment of the German-Indian "Quality Infrastructure" working group, a total of 19 areas of work were identified, one of which relates to accreditation. To date, there has been no work done in this area. The goal now is to initiate targeted activities, for example in the areas of eco-certification and data protection. The next meeting is scheduled to take place at the IAF-ILAC Joint Annual Meetings in New Delhi.

As the third largest economy in Asia, India is an important market for the German economy. To promote bilateral trade relations between the two countries, it is particularly important to work towards the removal of technical trade barriers. This requires the further development and international harmonisation of national quality infrastructure, consisting of the instruments of standardisation, accreditation, conformity assessment and market surveillance as an important cornerstone of the economy.