The journey to implement a quality management system at NSCL started in the nineties of the last century, when attempts were made to establish a system in compliance with the requirements of ISO/IEC Guide 25:1990 (General requirements for the competence of calibration and testing laboratories).

When the international standard ISO/IEC 17025:1999 (General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories) was issued, NSCL started to adapt its system to the requirements of the new standard, including modifying the used procedures and developing the required new ones, with a special focus on three of the eight sections NSCL comprises: The Direct Current (DC), Mass (MA) and Pressure (PR) sections, with the aim of getting them accredited by an internationally recognized accreditation body.

In the second half of the year 2005, the Syrian-German project “Support to the Syrian Quality Infrastructure” started, with the German side represented by the German National Metrology Institute (Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt PTB) and the Syrian side by the State Planning Commission (SPC). Within the framework of one of the project's main components "Enhancing the capacity of the Syrian quality infrastructure organizations", a number of Syrian testing and calibration laboratories, including NSCL, were selected with the aim of providing them with the needed support to establish quality management systems in compliance with ISO/IEC 17025:2005.
NSCL filed an application form for accreditation to the "German Calibration Services DKD" on February the 19th 2007 with all the required annexes and documents enclosed. The form was accepted and given a registration number: DKD-K-48601.

Following the acceptance of the application form, the DKD assigned an assessment team headed by the lead auditor Dr. A. Odin and included three technical assessors: Dr. M. Klonz, Dr. M. Kochsiek and Mr. W. Schultz.

At Dr. Odin’s request, NSCL provided the team with samples of the system documentation in order for documentation compliance with the requirements of ISO/IEC 17025:2005 to be assessed (desk audit). On the successful completion of the desk audit, the assessment team prepared a programme for the on site assessment aiming at verifying the compliance of NSCL practices with the documented system and evaluating the effectiveness of the management system and technical activities.

Three assessment visits were performed:

• Assessment of the DC section technical activities by Dr. Klonz, during the period 18-26/11/2007.
• Assessments of the MA section technical activities by Dr. Kochsiek and of the management system by Dr. Odin, during the period 17-18/12/2007.
• Assessment of the PR section technical activities by Mr. Schultz, during the period 20-24/01/2008.

The technical competence of the three sections was assessed using reference standards brought by the assessors, while the assessment of the management system included a simulation of the customer related processes, starting by receiving and handling customer requests and equipment and ending with equipment retrieval by customers and certificates delivery.

On February the 7th, the assessment team made the decision to accredit NSCL for the scope documented in the application form (pressure, mass, weighing instruments, electrical DC and LF quantities) and the accreditation certificate was issued on April the 4th 2008, making NSCL the first Laboratory in the Syrian Arab Republic to be accredited by an internationally recognized accreditation body. The accreditation scope was then published on the DKD and NSCL websites.

After being accredited, the system had successfully gone through a first surveillance visit conducted in May 2009 by a team working for the DKD and a second one conducted in October 2010 by another team working for the new German accreditation body (DAkkS).

A third visit was to be conducted in April 2012, the last one in the accreditation cycle of five years, but the current circumstances in the country made it impossible for the assessors to perform the on site assessment leading to the suspension of accreditation by DAkkS as of May the 4th 2012.

In the second half of the year 2008, the EU project "Strengthening Quality Management, Capabilities and Infrastructure in Syria" started, with the EU side represented by the European delegation in Damascus and the Syrian side by the Ministry of Industry.

The project plan was to provide NSCL with the technical support needed to extend the scope of its management system to cover the technical activities of the Alternating Current (AC), Dimensional Metrology (DM) and Temperature and Humidity (TH) sections. It was intended that the project would be completed by mid-2012, but it was suspended during the second half of the year 2011, due to the current circumstances in the country, and the extension had not been completed nor assessed by a third party.

NSCL management is committed to maintaining the implemented management system and improving it on a continual basis and shall supply the necessary resources, for this purpose. During the last period, the activities started within the framework of the EU project were completed and the system is now ready to be assessed by a third party.