Title: Guidelines for the Registration of Conformity

National Accreditation Department ID. No.: RG-01

Assessment Bodies (CABs) in UAE
Registration of CABs Section
Revision No: 00 Revision Date: 02-04-2020 Page 1 of 6

This guideline deals with the registration of Conformity Assessment Bodies (CABs) in the United Arab Emirates
(UAE).

1 The Basis: According to UAE Cabinet Decree No. 35 for the year 2015 regarding UAE System for Control of
CABs, registration is mandatory for all CABs in UAE, either private or government, with Emirates Authority for
Standardization and Metrology (ESMA). The exceptions are medical laboratories, research and development
laboratories, and private laboratories for personal use or training/learning purposes or for quality control purposes
in the factories. The basis for registration fees and penalties for violation is “UAE Cabinet Resolution No. (36)
for the year 2015 Regarding Fees for Control Services of Conformity Assessment Bodies”.
Link for Laws and Legislations: http://www.enas.gov.ae/en-us/ENAS/Pages/Laws-Legislations.aspx

2. Some Important aspects for the Registration of CABs:

2.1 Scope: Currently NAD is registering the CABs for the scopes of testing, calibration, inspection, and certification.
2.2 Local (emirate) level registration schemes: It is mandatory for all the CABs in UAE to register with NAD
irrespective of any registration scheme prevailing at local (Emirate) level.
2.3 Valid Trade License is Prerequisite: In order to seek registration, the CAB shall have a valid trade license with
scope registration mentioned in it. Example: If the CAB wishes to seek registration in the scope of testing then it
is mandatory that the trade license shall mention testing as its main or one of the activities.
In the case of government organizations, it is a prerequisite to have the law of establishments with scope of
registration mentioned in it.
2.4 Registration is mandatory for all scopes mentioned in trade license: It is mandatory for the CAB to seek
registration for all those scopes listed in 2.1 if they are appearing on the trade license. For instance if the trade
license is issued for the activities of testing, calibration, inspection, and certification then it is mandatory for the
CAB to seek registration in all the four scopes.
2.5 Validity of Certificate: Registration certificate is valid for one year and it shall be renewed within the allowed
time limit.
2.6 Separate Application for each scope: The CAB shall submit separate application for each scope
2.7 Pre-Registration: The private CABs shall apply for pre-registration in case if the scope of registration (see 2.1)
is not mentioned in their trade license.
2.8 Mandatory fields and accreditation: There are certain fields in each scope registration for which accreditation
is mandatory. These are called as mandatory scopes available at
http://www.enas.gov.ae/Lists/LawsandLegislationsList/Attachments/4/MandatoryScopes). CABs practicing
mandatory scopes shall seek accreditation within one year from the date of registration from an accreditation body
recognized by ENAS (Emirates National Accreditation System).
http://www.enas.gov.ae/en-us/Services/Pages/Accreditation.aspx

3 Important aspect for organizations falling under the category of exceptions: As mentioned previously these
organizations do not have to get registered with NAD. However they shall submit a declaration letter to NAD in
the prescribed format.

4 Responsibility of Registration and Surveillance: It is the responsibility of NAD to implement the Decree No
35. However it can outsource the activities of conducting the assessment to certain local authorities. Currently
Abu Dhabi QCC is conducting the assessments for CABs situated in the emirate of Abu Dhabi.
NAD and /or the organization to whom assessment is outsourced are authorized to conduct unannounced visit(s)
in order to ensure that the registered CAB is complying with the requirements of NAD all the times.

5. Procedure of Pre-Registration (Issue of NOC by NAD):

 Title: Guidelines for the Registration of Conformity
National Accreditation Department ID. No.: RG-01
Assessment Bodies (CABs) in UAE
Registration of CABs Section
Revision No: 00 Revision Date: 02-04-2020 Page 2 of 6

 The private CABs shall obtain the Reserved Trade License (RTL) from the licensing authority.
 It shall visit https://eservices.enas.gov.ae/#/page/login and apply for the pre-registration
 The applicable fees is as mentioned in Table 1.
 NAD shall issue the No objection Letter to the CAB
 The CAB shall proceed to licensing authority, complete the required formalities and obtain trade license
(in the scopes in which it wishes to get registered with NAD).

Table 1: Service Charges of Pre-Registration and Registration as per Resolution No 36/2015

S.N Service Fees (in AED)
1 NOC letter 300
2 Conformity Assessment Bodies Application request 1000 for each request
3 Document review 2500 for each review
4 Onsite Assessment 3000 per auditor/day
5 Registration of each CAB activity for one year 1000
6 Renewal of CAB registration 800 for each time
7 Registration removal suspension within 60 days 500 AED for each time
8 Scope update on registration certificate 500 AED for each time

6 Procedure for First Time Registration

6.1 Registration requirements: The award of registration is based on the demonstration of compliance to all the
applicable requirements of the relevant documents by the CAB:
1) RTR-01: Registration Requirements for Laboratories.
2) RTR-02: Registration requirements for Certification Bodies.
3) RTR-03: Registration requirements for Inspection Bodies.
6.2 When to submit the application for registration:
6.2.1 Private CABs: Within six months from the date of registration the private CAB shall apply for registration i.e. it
is ready to demonstrate its compliance with relevant documents stated in 6.1. Extension to a period of maximum
another six months is possible provide (a) the CAB requests NAD for extension based on a valid justification,
and (b) NAD accepts the justification as valid.
6.2.2 Government CABs: They shall apply as early as possible.

6.3 Application for Registration:

The CAB shall visit https://eservices.enas.gov.ae/#/page/login and apply for registration. It shall upload all the
required documents such as valid trade license, QMS documents, accreditation certificate in the scope of
registration if available).

6.4 Review of Application and Payment of fees

 NAD will review the application and accept it in case of no short comings, or return the application to the
CAB for necessary rectification in case of any short coming(s).
 On acceptance of application the CAB will receive a cost bill for registration fees (Table 1).
 The CAB shall make full payment as per the details in the cost bill.
 On confirmation of full payment, the application will move to the next step.

6.5 Conducting document Review

 Title: Guidelines for the Registration of Conformity
National Accreditation Department ID. No.: RG-01
Assessment Bodies (CABs) in UAE
Registration of CABs Section
Revision No: 00 Revision Date: 02-04-2020 Page 3 of 6

 The document review will be conducted by the staff of NAD (Registration Officer, RO) or by the staff of
organization to whom the assessment is outsourced (Auditor) depending on the case.
 If the document review leads to any non-conformities, the CAB shall close the non-conformities within a
time period (mutually agreed between the CAB and RO/AUD) not exceeding 15 days.

6.6 Conducting Onsite assessment

 An audit agenda and time frame will be prepared by the RO/AUD in coordination with the CAB where
details such as date of assessment, timings of assessment, opening and closing meetings, communication of
non-conformities, will be mentioned. The duration of assessment shall not exceed 2 days (if all the three
scopes are covered).
 The RO/AUD shall conduct the assessment as per agenda and the CAB shall extend its full cooperation in
the assessment.
 No-communicate (if any) will be communicate to CAB as decided in the opening meeting.
 In the closing meeting the decision on granting the registration shall be clearly mentioned along with overall
findings.

6.7 Follow up Actions: The RO/AUD shall submit the assessment report within 5 days from the date of registration.
If there are no non-conformities. The CAB shall, within 5 days, shall respond by giving the immediate actions it
has taken, root cause analysis, proposed corrective actions which not only close the non-conformity but also
prevent its recurrence, and time period required to successfully demonstrate the closing of non-conformities. The
RO/AUD shall review the response and give the feedback. The time period to close the non-conformities shall be
mutually agreed between the RO/AUD and CAB but should not exceed more than four weeks. In case the issue
is not resolved within 4 weeks then the CAB may be given another 4 weeks (maximum) if RO/AUD determines
the reason for extension is justifiable. It is the responsibility of the CAB to officially inform AUD about the
implementation of corrective actions (within stipulated period).

6.8 Decision of granting registration: The CAB shall be granted registration if it has (a) no nonconformities or /
non-conformities are present and all of them are successfully closed in the agreed time frame, and (b) there are
no pending payments of fees and / or penalties (Table 2). Registration will not be awarded if any of the conditions
is not met.

Table 4 : Penalties
Violation Penalty (AED)
1. Delay in renewal of registration - more than (15) days from the date 100 / day,
of expiry of registration Maximum 1500
2. CAB did not submit the request for registration within the time period 10,000
mentioned in No objection letter
3. Practice of any of conformity assessment activity(ies) without 10,000
Registration
4. Change of conformity assessment activities without prior approval of 10,000
NAD
5. Non closing of non-conformities within 90 days from the date of 10,000
suspension of scope by a registered CAB
6. CABs did not get the accreditation for the mandatory scopes and tests 10,000
within the time frame defined by NAD
7. CABs not committing to the technical requirements of registration 10,000

6.9 Issue of Registration Certificate

 Title: Guidelines for the Registration of Conformity
National Accreditation Department ID. No.: RG-01
Assessment Bodies (CABs) in UAE
Registration of CABs Section
Revision No: 00 Revision Date: 02-04-2020 Page 4 of 6

On successful completion of registration procedure the (a) certificate of registration will be issued to the CAN
and (b) its details will be updated in the website. -------------------------------------------------------

7 Renewal of Registration
The registered CAB should submit the application for renewal of registration, before at least one month before
the date expiry of registration. Document review is not applicable in the renewal of registration. Refer the
procedure of first time registration for creating the application number, cost bill, payment of fees, and other
applicable aspects. Penalties for late submission of application (Table 4), and for not seeking accreditation for
mandatory scopes are applicable.

8. Scope Extension
The registered CAB can request for scope extension at any time following the procedure of first time registration

9. Scope Reduction / Scope Cancellation

This can be initiated by the registered CAB or NAD.

Scope Reduction by a Registered CAB can be initiated by making a formal request to NAD at any time. The
registered CAB can request for part or full scope of registration and return the registration certificate. Further the
registered CAB shall complete pending payments of fees and penalties (if any). After completion of these
formalities NAD will issue new registration certificate, in case of partial reduction of scope, with reduced scope
and without any changes to date of expiry. In case of reduction of full scope no registration certification will be
issued. In either case the website of NAD will be updated and the licensing authority will be informed about scope
reduction / cancellation.

The RO/AUD can also request for the scope reduction if the registered CAB is found to not complying with the
relevant requirements of registration following the above procedure.

The registered CAB has to complete all In case if there are no issues pending, particularly the pending payment
of fees and penalties (if any), NAD shall issue a new registration certificate with reduced scope (no changes to
date of expiry) to the CAB and update the NAD website indicating the reduced scope of registration.

10. Change history

Revision Date Change

00 New document based on RP-01 Rev -- and RP-02 Rev --

 Title: Guidelines for the Registration of Conformity
National Accreditation Department ID. No.: RG-01
Assessment Bodies (CABs) in UAE
Registration of CABs Section
Revision No: 00 Revision Date: 02-04-2020 Page 5 of 6

Annex 1
Flow Chart for Registration
 Title: Guidelines for the Registration of Conformity
National Accreditation Department ID. No.: RG-01
Assessment Bodies (CABs) in UAE
Registration of CABs Section
Revision No: 00 Revision Date: 02-04-2020 Page 6 of 6

CAB applies for Pre-Registration

(Reserved Trade License)

Review of CAB activities by NAD

No
Under mandatory Declaration by the
Scope (Y/N)? CAB

Yes

Preparation of Cost Bill by NAD

(Fees for Pre-Registration and
Registration fees in advance )

No
CAB made
Payment (Y/N)?

Yes
Issue of NOC

CAB applies for Registration

(within 6 months along with QM
and valid trade license)

Document review by Assessor

appointed by NAD

Planning of Site Assessment

(by CAB and NAD )

Onsite Assessment

No
NCs (if any) closed within
agreed time (Y/N)?

Yes

Issue of Registration Certificate

(updating the online registration
status of the CAB by NAD) Pre-Registration

End Registration