Case Study

Partnership between SAAC and the Saudi National Center for Environmental Compliance (NCEC)

Summary
The Saudi Accreditation Centre (SAAC) has entered into a partnership agreement with the National Center for Environmental Compliance (NCEC), the public body in charge of monitoring the compliance of Saudi companies with environmental commitments. This agreement aims to strengthen the role of accredited conformity assessment bodies in the environmental sector in Saudi Arabia.

Background
The Saudi NCEC mission is to work with relevant parties to improve environmental compliance through pollution monitoring, environmental assessment, and strengthening environmental control and guidance. The aim is to conserve environmental resources, monitor air quality and emissions, and protect the marine and coastal environment. NCEC also works with other stakeholders to preserve biodiversity, develop the ability to prepare for and mitigate drought, and rehabilitate contaminated areas.

NCEC targets include:

• Improving Saudi environmental commitment by reducing pollution of environmental sectors, and raising the efficiency and performance of regulatory bodies.
• Strengthening national response capabilities to environmental emergencies and improving coordination with the relevant authorities.
• Increasing the participation of the private sector in providing high-quality environmental services.
• Encouraging research and innovation in the fields of monitoring, evaluation and environmentally friendly technologies, in cooperation with local and international universities and research organisations.

Strategy
Based on the SAAC-NCEC partnership agreement, both parties work together to raise awareness about accreditation in the environmental sector, through the organisation of workshops, scientific seminars and training of experts.
Both parties work together to improve the related Saudi technical regulations, to make sure that environmental certification, testing and inspection reports instil confidence, and the related onsite technical and management requirements are implemented and respected.
SAAC and NCEC also coordinate exchanging technical expertise and upgrading the Saudi technical environmental capacity building. In addition, both agree to support providing accreditation services to conformity assessment bodies (CABs) operating in the environmental sector.

Results and impact
The Saudi environmental technical regulations will be updated and include accredited conformity assessment guidelines related to technical disposal. CABs operating in environmental sectors will be accredited according to ILAC Mutual Recognition Arrangement (MRA) and IAF Multilateral Recognition Arrangement (MLA) scopes, and national awareness of conformity assessment in the environmental sector will be increased.

The Saudi 2030 vision development goals can be summarized as follows:
Societal goals:
• Improvement of the quality of life.
• Raising the levels of social safety.
• Promotion of community participation.
Environmental goals:
• Improvement of environmental resources.
• Achieving the concept of global sustainability.
• Optimisation of utilization of natural resources.
• Contribution to environmental rehabilitation.

Contact
Mr. Haasan AlWohaibi Deputy CEO of Operations