TWINNING PROJECT FICHE. Support to Azerbaijan in the field of technical regulations, standards and conformity assessment

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1 TWINNING PROJECT FICHE Support to in the field of technical regulations, standards and conformity assessment 1. Basic Information 1.1. Programme: TACIS National Action Programme for Twinning Number: AZ07/PCA/TR Title: Strengthening of Standardisation, Metrology, Conformity Assessment and Accreditation in SASMP Standards Agency Sector: Trade and Industry 1.5. Beneficiary country: SASMP (State Agency of Standardization, Metrology and Patents) 2. Objectives 2.1. Overall Objective(s): This Twinning supports the adoption and effective implementation of the European Union- ENP Action Plan of 14 November 2006 as regards approximation of i legislation on standards, technical regulations and conformity assessment to those of EU and in line with WTO requirements Project purpose: The first purpose of the Project is the creation of a horizontal framework legislation for quality infrastructure in which is conforming with EU s internal market and also fulfils the requirements of the rules of the World Trade Organisation related to free movement of goods. This will help in accelerating the trade exchange of goods between and the EU by reducing the need for re-testing, re-inspection or re-certification by enhancing the acceptance of i and EU conformity assessment results issued in or EU. In order to have the legislative framework implemented and operating effectively, the second purpose of the Project is the improvement and strengthening of the infrastructure capacity in SASMP for the implementation of the EU technical legislation principles (mainly the Global Approach) and in line with WTO-TBT requirements for transparent access to regulations related to free movement of goods. This will be done for instance through the upgrade and strengthening of s accreditation, metrology and notification systems as internationally recognised organisational components ensuring the operational roles in the correct functioning of the market regulation models. This will also be done through the dissemination and adoption/practice of the related regulations by the economic operators thanks to seminars and trainings targeting them through a training centre for market education. 1

2 2.3. Contribution to the National Development Plan and to the EU- ENP Action Plan In the context of the ENP, and to accelerate the process of administrative reform and facilitate the design and implementation of public policies, it has been agreed to extend the instruments of institutional twinning and TAIEX to particularly for the setting up of EU compatible regulatory frameworks. The i authorities have shown their interest in the approximation, sometimes harmonisation, of its laws and regulations with those of the EU to help boosting the i economy to new levels of competitiveness. To that end, the Article 43 of the PCA concluded by the EU and mentions that The Republic of should endeavor to ensure that its legislation will be gradually made compatible with that of the Community. Through the approximation of its legislation to that of the EU, as well as the adoption of harmonised European standards, would increase the export of its products to the EU, and also meet WTO requirements. This is in line with the Priority Area 7 of the ENP Action Plan regarding Further convergence of economic legislation and administrative practices and especially the first specific action of this Priority Area: Strengthen the institutions responsible for standardisation, accreditation, conformity assessment, metrology and market surveillance ; This is also in line with the ENPI NIP chapter on regulatory reform for adoption of international standards: Improvement in the operation of 's standardisation, certification and accreditation systems and enhanced capacity of the local organisations responsible for these functions 3. Description 3.1. Background and justification: After getting independency from the former Soviet Union, the i Government has adopted several laws, decrees and resolutions in the area of Standardisation and Conformity Assessment as a continuation of the former Soviet Union GOST system on standards and certification. Not only the former GOST system does not ensure compatibility with EU or international regulations but legislation shows a number of discrepancies and contradictions in comparison with internationally accepted principles such as those promoted in the context of international trade regulatory instruments. Additionally implementation and application of the secondary legislation between the stakeholders of the regulated markets is not ensured or properly functional so that several institutions and ministries are now challenging the SASMP roles and duties by implementing their own technical regulations often overlapping with other ministries and sometimes ignoring SASMP; as an example, through some decrees the Ministry of Economic Development is responsible for Market Surveillance of the products put into the consumer markets in whilst this task was supposed to be mainly ensured by law by SASMP ( Law of the Republic of on Standards No. 60-IQ of , articles 10, 11, 12; supplemented by the Presidential Decree N 799 of 10 October 2002, chapters III and IV, article series 10 and 11 on the duties of the established Standards Agency ). But if we suppose that a new responsibilities partitioning may have been architectured between SASMP and MoED so that before market survey and support is ensured by SASMP and in-market/after-market Market Surveillance is ensured by MoED, then we have overlapping activities when it comes to the 2

3 certification of fishery products before they are exported to Europe, which is typically a before market activity and not a market surveillance activity. Such overlapping generates not only confusion but also is in full contradiction with the principles of separation between before market certification activities as support to local industry, and in-market surveillance activities, thus potentially generating direct conflicts of interests. Such problems show that not only the i institutions need to be reformed and refocused on their activities but also an overall architecture and framework are to be developed for technical regulations, starting in priority with the horizontal framework legislation. Such legislation has to provide the national framework on how to organise regulated markets through standards, conformity assessment, metrology and accreditation systems to be upgraded to EU models and then allocate responsibilities amongst the different stakeholders and regulatory bodies in. Vertical technical regulations (sector specific) can only be efficiently implemented if the horizontal framework legislation is already implemented and working. Institutional Set-up In 1992, the Centre for Standardisation and Metrology was established under the authority of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of. The Standardization Centre was established as the central authority on behalf of the Government in the field of standardisation, metrology and certification. In 2001, following the Presidential Decree No. 623 of December 27, 2001, the Standardisation and Metrology Centre was merged with the Patent-Licensing Department of the State Committee for Science and Technology. Following this merge the new institution established was called the State Agency of Standardization, Metrology and Patents (SASMP). The SASMP is the central executive body responsible for implementing the state policy in the sphere of standardisation and metrology and ensuring the protection of industrial intellectual property rights. A Director-General appointed by the President of the Republic of heads the Agency (Article 12, Chapter V of the Statute of the Agency). The SASMP is a large organisation including a central level entity with nine branch offices in the regions, a research institute and a technical library, altogether staffed with about 800 employees. Recently, following some changes of its top management, the Agency is undergoing an internal institutional re-organisation aimed at consolidating its structure and functions. As mentioned above, the tasks and responsibilities of the Agency are set out in the Presidential Decree No. 799, dated October 10, 2002, which approved the Statutes of the Agency. Based on this decree, the Agency is the main authority in the field of standardisation, conformity assessment and intellectual industrial property rights in. According to the decree, key responsibilities of the Agency are to: - co-ordinate and implement the Government s policies in the fields of standardisation, conformity assessment, certification, accreditation, metrology and industrial intellectual property rights; - organise and supervise procedures for developing and approving s standards, conformity assessment of products, services, quality systems and personnel; - monitor the standardisation, accreditation and certification procedures; - develop, approve and register i standards; - publish rules and provide information to economic operators on the application of various types of standards; - carry out accreditation and certification activities; - accredit testing laboratories; 3

4 - keep the state register of certification systems, accredited certification bodies and laboratories, and publish information about them; - inform international organisations about accredited certification bodies and testing laboratories and about accreditation and certification activities in the territory of ; - supervise implementation of international agreements on standardisation and certification; - recognise, on behalf of the relevant ministry, certificates of conformity (conformity declarations) issued by foreign and external organisations; - Establish and monitor norms and procedures for protecting industrial intellectual property rights. Most of the horizontal technical regulations are implemented by the Agency (metrology, accreditation, and standardisation) with limited resources and most of the time with old procedures and outdated equipment. It is of the highest importance for to ensure that its basic horizontal regulations system is working and supporting all the other vertical sectors which may be monitored by SASMP or by other sector authorities and institutions. As an example, when accreditation of laboratories is requested by EU counterparts before they recognise and accept i laboratories reports and certificates it is necessary to have an internationally accepted accreditation system like EN17025 and not local interpretations based on old GOST accreditation standards; it is also necessary to have an internationally accepted metrology system and even preferably EA recognised metrology laboratories, without which i accreditations would not be recognised in Europe or other regions. Regarding vertical technical regulations some sectors are considered in the Agency (food, electrical apparatus, etc) but ministries and other governmental organisations also appear to be responsible/involved in some vertical regulations but without a clear role and mission allocation; for instance in the fishery products the following institutions consider themselves responsible for portions or entirely of regulations : Ministry of Health Ministry of Agriculture Ministry of Economic Development Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources SASMP others As a result the EU experts from DGSANCO have refused a preferential listing of fishery products before adequate EU-level certification and control procedures are not enforced and effective. In the telecommunications sector also conflicting positions are reported by importers when certification of telecom products is required before importing goods in the country as both MCIT ( Ministry of Communications and Information Technology) and SASMP can provide certificates which may be diversely accepted or not. Another major overlapping also occurs when importing goods into the country (or exporting), as the Customs also have their own laboratories (highly equipped with modern equipment and well trained experts) and they also make testing for giving market access permissions. Notification principles not implemented: in absence of country level notification principles high risk exists to generate technical barriers to trade when concurrent and diverse regulations may apply from different administrations which don t inform each other about their regulations and requirements. 4

5 Required Developments and areas for Institutional Twinning The i Government intends to restructure the State Agency of Standardisation, Metrology and Patents (SASMP) and to streamline its operations along with an improvement of its key functions and tasks performance. This entails that along with the restructuring and development of staff capabilities, the legislation, standards, rules and procedures should be upgraded and technical regulations developed and enforced. Therefore support is needed for the Agency on: i. simplification of existing legislation and concurrent regulations amongst various governmental authorities through the adoption of best practice EU regulations and approximation of EU legislation in the area of standardisation and conformity assessment ; this work needs to be performed by ensuring a good understanding of the general principles of EU technical regulations like the New Approach/Old Approach and particularly the Global Approach which gives a good framework to be implemented for guaranteeing best practice. Place, responsibilities and roles have to be clearly assigned between SASMP and the other government or market institutions (especially regarding market surveillance) for avoiding useless overlapping or missing responsibilities. ii. Information dissemination and transparent regulatory environment need to be assured in a WTO requested inquiry point (this point is scheduled to be developed in a parallel support project provided by GTZ on German funding) iii. Upgrading of the accreditation department capability in performing EU level accreditation tasks so that s certification, inspection and testing bodies are recognised in international trade (today no international recognition is possible when ISO accreditation rules are not implemented in s quality environment) iv. Development and deployment of metrology and calibration services in, to be recognised by EU counterparts as trustable accreditation infrastructure (without a proper internationally recognised national metrology system it is not possible to gain accreditation for test and measurement laboratories) Functional analysis of SASMP SASMP has been built based on the former Soviet Union standards and technical regulations systems GOSTANDARD; therefore the basic principles of technical requirements and standardisation, metrology, accreditation and conformity assessment are fully known yet rather different from the EU model. In many other countries such a regulation infrastructure did not exist and it has been a difficult job to build such competent teams. The number of the SASMP personnel is also impressive ( 800 employees) but a question may arise regarding a proper motivation and efficiency measurement system of Agency s personnel if the necessary knowledge and technology upgrade actions have not been fulfilled correctly during the last years. The use of gap analysis when planning training and competence management need to be generalised in the Agency not only for optimising today s HR development budgets but especially for engaging a corporate strategy based on duties and missions to be fulfilled and the necessary competence building priorities. EU regulations trainings are therefore essential for reactivating the knowledge and skills accumulated in Agency s teams and fuelling it for a better and efficient use in a new regulatory schematic based on the principle of bricks and mortar using, where the existing teams may play the role of existing bricks with absorption capabilities and which need to be fuelled with new regulations and clear roles and missions (considered as the mortar). 5

6 Financial management based on not only operating expenses but also gap analysis and investment strategies is not yet an established method of thinking and the major weakness is structural as the Agency is by definition a state budgetary institution despite the important revenues it generates by providing its services and duties in some technical regulation activities. The dynamics of the new top management and its ambitious forward pushing attitude are a major asset in succeeding to get financial independency and self-sufficiency in a future non-budgetary environment together with a recognised and respected position of Overall Technical Regulatory Authority in support to other sector specific authorities. Financing/funding of the transition is already a success in that several donors have been approached for starting and now other donors are expressing by themselves their interest in supporting the SASMP transition efforts Linked activities (other international and national initiatives): a) International donors A detailed study has been performed under an EC funded TACIS 2004 project and this has been used during the drafting of the twinning fiche terms of reference: TACIS Program for 2004 Support for implementation of the PCA between EU - Progress - Monitoring on the Aligning of the Legislation of with the requirements of the WTO and EU : o Scoreboard for the Legal Approximation Process in the field of Technical Rules, Standards and Conformity Assessment This study has identified organisation priorities but they have not been implemented in the Agency by the previous management, it is the will of the new management to implement them starting from now with EU best practice support. As a first priority, it points out the need for a horizontal framework legislation on which the SASMP could build its own missions and priorities when targeting EU and WTO recognition for i technical regulations system. Organisational issues have also been identified when recommending the separation of potentially conflicting activities and the creation of a WTO inquiry point. 2 further points are necessary to be addressed as a potential continuation of this study: Market Surveillance versus Certification activities : to be clearly separated Metrology and Calibration requirements for accreditation recognition by EU and WTO The first point is to be addressed during the horizontal framework legislation preparation and implementation stage of the twinning project, whilst the second point is urgently needed to be studied in a parallel project under implementation by the German Governmental organisation GTZ and PTB (the German National Metrology Centre) The GTZ project is presently under negotiation between SASMP and GTZ and it is expected to start by June-July 2007 until Its main components are: 6

7 WTO-TBT Enquiry Point development inside the SASMP Strategy roadmap and Action Plan for the Quality Infrastructure in Trainings Centre for disseminating EU regulation principles and best practice New services for supporting SMEs in the quality domain in The foreseen technical assistance amount to be provided by GTZ is estimated around 2 Mi On the organisational side a project supported by Korea Patents Office for a trainings centre is under discussion in the framework of WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization) negotiations; the Patents Department of is included in SASMP s duties and recommendations have been formulated for separating this activity USAID has also started recently discussions with SASMP for supporting them on TBT issues; an overall 7 mi $ envelope is booked by USAID for on several subjects yet to be clearly identified and the WTO Inquiry Point is one of their target Another twinning project is being drafted in parallel with the present twinning project; its subject is a vertical sector support programme: "Support to the Improvement of Legal and Technical Aspects of Food Quality and Safety Assurance and Certification Requirements of i Fishery Products" (AZ07/PCA/HE01). This project needs that all the horizontal aspects of market regulation are functioning in before being able to build on top of them any vertical sector, for instance accreditation, metrology, standards body are essential horizontal tools necessary for fishery products laboratory and market regulation issues. b) National initiatives Last year SASMP has performed major investments in its food analysis testing laboratory with its own national financings but also Russian subsidies have been obtained for purchasing Russian analysers and chromatographs. Overall investments done (including general building reorganisation and logistics) are about , but only few money could be dedicated to the laboratories, especially metrology laboratories for purchasing etalons. For 2007 the investment plan is continuing as the Government has accepted to pay for a new 7 layers building which will be able to host the regional Baku team experts and also : SASMP s food testing laboratory The metrology laboratory (the building infrastructure only) The 2007 budget estimation for investments is Depending of other donors support, the i Government is also planning to financially support in 2007 parts of the metrology instrumentation investment by using all its internal investment capabilities or governmental special budgets. (20% of the investment plan). 7

8 3.3. Results: The results expected in the twinning project are of 2 folds: Results relating to the legal approximation institutional building conforming with EU s internal market organisation model: A. Completed process of legal approximation and transformation of SASMP standardisation activities to a transparent and independent national technical regulations management institution corresponding to EU horizontal directives covering accreditation, metrology, national standards body, conformity assessment, notifying body, B. The development of a national market surveillance system and its potential connection to the European Community framework for market surveillance, and practical cooperation in different technical areas with the European Commission and national M.S. authorities; C. Practical examples of EU Directives implementation in ; A law on defective products in line with European directives on product liability, and The General Product Safety Directive to be implemented A vertical EU Directive example: electrical devices: LVD + EMC Directives Fisheries Directive in EU: example to be practically implemented in the parallel twinning fiche regarding MoED Consumer Market Control Organisation and its certification activities for monitoring the Caspian Fish company willing to export directly to EU (see section 3.2 linked activities for further information). Results relating to the infrastructure capacity building implementation and effective operation: D. The creation of a national conformity assessment infrastructure meeting the EU internal market regulation requirements; E. The development of national systems for metrology and legal metrology traceable to the highest international level. As close cooperation as possible with the European organisation for metrology EURAMET, or COOMET and the European organisation for legal metrology WELMEC and OIML; F. s National Accreditation Body ready for qualification to membership of European cooperation for Accreditation (EA), Multilateral Agreement (MLA) and full membership in both ILAC (International Laboratory Accreditation Co-operation) and IAF (International Accreditation Forum); Accredited certification bodies or conformity assessment bodies ready to be members of a relevant European or international certification network e.g. IQNet-Accredited laboratories and inspection bodies to cooperate with, or be members of, e.g. Eurachem, Eurolab, EURAMET and CEOC or other relevant European organisations; G. A good knowledge by conformity assessment operators about the roles and obligations of notified bodies, especially under New Approach principles, as well as co-operation and co-ordination between them; i economic operators and market and governmental stakeholders informed on the role and significance of the CE marking and other relevant EU marks, their relations to national and voluntary marks and the legislative technical regulations. 8

9 Indicators of Achievement When drafting the work plan for this project, the partners (SASMP and the selected Member State) will develop a set of measurable performance indicators/benchmarks, on the basis of those given in the logical framework (see annex 1) and the commonly agreed activities and outputs. In order to meet the specific mandatory results of this project, the partners may propose alternative or complementary activities and outputs to those identified in the previous sections Activities: Legal Approximation Institutional Building activities Activities group A: A.0 Seminar on the Principles of Technical Regulation in EU A.0.1 An information conference/seminar on the principles of the European quality infrastructure with full political backing should be organised for high ranking civil servants from SASMP and also legislative organisations in the i state, other Ministries and Regulatory institutions and enforcement executives (Customs, Justice, Public Force, etc. ) and high representatives of industry and sectors (Chambers of Commerce, Federations, etc ) A.0.2 A similar conference/seminar should then be organised for practitioners in the SASMP departments and units, laboratories, certification and inspection bodies. The points to be explained are relating to the European market regulation model (Standardisation Directive, New Approach, Old Approach, Global Approach, Notifications system) and WTO system for technical harmonisation. A.1 Transformation of SASMP s standardisation activities into an independent national standardisation body based on the European principles Establishment of a sole national standardisation organisation for issuing national standards, including translation and implementation of European and international standards. A.1.0 Coordination work with other donors on legal approximation A project coordination and management training and support action will be provided to the i beneficiary task force which will be acting as the coordination unit between the internal departments of SASMP and the Member State Administration responsible persons. This shall also coordinate the tasks which may be distributed amongst the present project and other donors projects as the beneficiary s coordination task force is also taking care of this coordination of various donors like GTZ-PTB or USAID. A.1.1 A battery of laws or revision of the laws on standardisation, conformity assessment and products safety will be prepared with a legal department support from the EU partner. The time schedule of publication, consultation and enforcement will be studied in order to take into account the feasibility in the framework of the project of such a battery of laws. State legislation organisations need to be informed and involved from the beginning of the project for confirming not only the time schedule but especially the duties and tasks coordination and harmonisation between the various stakeholders involved in the regulations and enforcement of technical legislation. 9

10 A.1.2 Assessment of activities in the field of standardisation, in comparison with the EU requirements. Analysis of the organisational structure, responsibilities and relationships within the stakeholders. The needs for the transformation for becoming an independent body, fulfilling the EU requirements and definition of an internet based Centre for dissemination of standards. A.2 An action plan for the transformation of the standardisation activities into an independent body. This plan, which will include concrete milestones and a detailed schedule, should be elaborated in close contact with the relevant Ministries and Authorities, different stakeholders such as the Sector Federations of Industry and Consumer organisations. Together with this activity is foreseen the internship of a SASMP staff member, potentially the future Manager of the Standardisation Body in the EU partner organisation during 4 months. A.3 Training course on Standards Management for maximum 15 persons, open for the relevant staff of the Standardisation Body and key experts in technical committees. This activity includes practical exercises on examples of key EU standards to be transposed to. A.4 Definition of the national standardisation body information centre prototype. Support to the establishment of an internet based Information Centre, for Information and distribution of standards. The support will include on-the-job training in a similar structure of the partner Member State (up to 2 months). A.5 Organisation of two training seminars on "Production, Monitoring of Standards and its role for the European market and the transforming i market" in Baku. The target group is relevant personnel in industry, conformity assessment bodies and regulators. The seminar will be performed in twinning teams composed each time of 1 EU expert and 1 Azeri expert so that further seminars will be possible to be organised by the Azeri experts only, without any support from the EU partner. A.6 Participation of Azeri standardisation experts in the relevant CEN/ CENELEC /ETSI technical Committees or in equivalent committees of the International Standardisation Organisations (ISO, IEC, ITU) in the EU. The priority list for the implementation of some New Approach directives in shall be defined during the contract negotiation period depending of the sector and political priorities. To be detailed in the final contract depending of the possible Hands-On-The-Job traineeships in CEN/CENELEC/ETSI, the target being at least 2 persons (1 for CEN and 1 for CENELEC and ETSI) during 6 weeks in EU. 10

11 Activities group B: B.0 Creation and organisation of a national market surveillance system B.1 Creation of a plan for the establishment of a structured system for market surveillance. This entails investigating the various options for using the existing infrastructure for customer protection in SASMP or other sector specialised organisations in. The plan should be finalised and agreed during the first half of year 2008, allowing the necessary legal changes and the building up of the system to start at latest in the beginning of year B.2 Transfer of technical knowledge and training of relevant personnel in market surveillance activities through a study tour in Europe for 3 Azeri experts during 2 weeks. A selection procedure of the adequate experts will be implemented with support from the EU partners. B.3 Organise awareness seminars on in-market surveillance and pre-market conformity assessment of goods open for all relevant parties e.g. responsible authorities, custom service, industry and consumer representatives etc. The seminars shall explain the essential requirements principles, the risk assessment principles, and legal and enforcement issues of market surveillance, the EC notification procedure and EU administrative cooperation committees (AdCo). Activities group C: C.0 EU Directives implementation in. As first priority the practical implementation of EU Directive 2001/95/EC General Product Safety Directive will be taken as example to be followed by the electrical devices and Directives LVD and EMC. As a specific i requirement a 3 rd product family will be taken for practical implementation: fishery products, which is also addressed by another twinning at the MoED. C.1 Provide general policy advice on the national legislative work when transposing the European Directives into national laws. C.2 Train civil servants from SASMP by giving them the possibility to take part as observers in co-operation between the national authorities responsible for sector directives in the Member States (2 persons x 3 working days as participants to some AdCo meetings regarding the preparation or implementation issues or as trainees in a legal department of the EU partner ). C.3 Train the staff and the interested parties about the European directives on product liability (85/374/EEC) and/or the other 2 sectors in two one week seminars with sector experts from EU and sector experts from. Support through best practice and know-how transfer on the implementation of the directives in. 11

12 Infrastructure Capacity Building Activities Activities group D: D.0 Support the establishment of a functional national system for the implementation, operation, enforcement and maintenance of New Approach Directives, including the principles of the Global Approach.. Included will be the coordination of the horizontal directives transposition to, the coordination of accreditation, metrology, notification, conformity assessment infrastructure and their needs and funding resources, monitoring and sharing of national or international support. D.1 Training of civil servants in potential notifying authorities on the legal requirements and procedures for notifications under the New Approach principles. D.2 Assist and advise the national Accreditation Body (to be build for starting as a department of SASMP) in the implementation of the Global Approach principles for the assessment of bodies applying for notification under different directives and modules. D.3 Support in defining the financial modelling for the accreditation body so that the organisation will be more self financed, so as to meet the market demand for accreditation. D.4 Train the Accreditation Body staff members and technical assessors on the modalities of cooperation with other national accreditation bodies. Organise similar training for personnel in certification, inspection bodies and laboratories. Train relevant conformity assessment personnel according to the Global Approach and other relevant EU rules including the principles of mutual recognition in the non-harmonised area, by European experts from notified bodies in the EU. Activities group E: E.0 Development of national hierarchy for fundamental metrology and legal metrology traceable to the highest international level. E.1 Organisation of training courses on The implementation of the new version of ISO/IEC in fundamental metrology laboratories and the related aspects as adapted in EU countries (2 training courses x 15 persons each); E.2 Final assessment of the feasibility study to be prepared before the start of the project with support from GTZ-PTB experts. E.3 Support the EC and beneficiaries in the whole procurement process for the purchase of metrology laboratory equipment as defined in the feasibility study with GTZ-PTB (see Annex 4). 12

13 E.4 Support the establishment of a closer cooperation between the i laboratories for fundamental metrology and EURAMET and or/ COOMET member laboratories (3 persons x 3 meetings x 2 days). E.5 In the legal metrology field, train laboratories in the application of the latest version of the international standard ISO/IEC and the requirements for accreditation. Specialists should be trained both for regulatory activities and conformity assessment. E.6 Implement one of the most relevant European New Approach directives in the areas of e.g. Measurement Instrument Directive (MID) 2004/22 EEC, Non Automated Weighing Machines, 1990/384/EEG and the harmonised European standards linked to these directives. E.7 Arrange seminars to provide a large number of stakeholders (e.g. regulators, enforcement authorities, the business community etc.) with training and information on the consequences of enforcement of transposed EU directives. E.8 Arrange a closer co-operation between the i institutions for legal metrology and WELMEC (European organisation for legal metrology) and OIML member organisations (Organisation Internationale de Métrologie Légale) (2 experts, 2 meetings x 4 days). E.9 Harmonise the i legal metrology system with -and adaptation of -OIML recommendations etc. Preparation for Membership in OIML Mutual Acceptance Arrangement (MAA). The aim of the MAA is for the participants to accept and utilize Tests Reports validated by other participants. Activities group F: F.1 Support the Accreditation Body in qualifying for full membership in both ILAC (International Laboratory Accreditation Co-operation) and IAF (International Accreditation Forum). Provide assistance in the preparation of the relevant experts and organising internal audits and pre audits of experts in advance of the full assessment of the European co-operation for Accreditation (EA). F.2 Support accredited certification bodies or conformity assessment bodies to be members of a relevant European or international certification network e.g. IQNet-Accredited laboratories and inspection bodies to cooperate with, or be members of, e.g. Eurachem, Eurolab, EURAMET and CEOC or other relevant European organisations; F.3 Organise a study tour in EU accreditation bodies. (3 persons x 7 days) 13

14 Activities group G: G.1 Organise a broad information campaign on the role, organisation and legal meaning of the CE marking system25. That may include manufacturers, importers, enforcement authorities, customs officers, notified bodies, certification and inspection bodies, laboratories and accreditation bodies. G.2 Train 4 Azeri trainers during 2 seminars and ensure that they are able to perform the following seminars without support from EU experts. The working language will be English Means/ Input from the MS Partner Administration: Profile and tasks of the Project Leader The PL will be expected to devote a minimum of 3 days per month to the project in his home administration. In addition, he will coordinate, from the Member State side, the Project Steering Committee (PSC), which will meet in at least every three months. The main tasks of the Member State Project Leader are to ensure: The overall coordination of the Project; Leading activities of the Project; The achievement of the mandatory results. Profile Long-term civil servant from a Member State with 15 years experience in the fields of standardisation, metrology, conformity assessment and market surveillance, including work in a leading position; Have education and experience in the field of project management, institutional issues and organisation of national quality infrastructure to the European requirements Profile and tasks of the RTA The Resident Twinning Adviser (RTA) will provide 24 months input on site, and the main tasks are: Manage the day-to-day coordination and progress of the activities of the project in (office accommodation in SASMP premises) Liaise with the BC Project Leader Report to the MS Project Leader Liaise with other relevant i institutions, certification bodies, laboratories and other conformity assessment bodies not part of, or under the auspices of the SASMP. Provide advice in his field(s) of expertise 14

15 Profile Civil servant from the Member State with at least 7 years relevant experience in standardisation and conformity assessment according to the New and Global Approach procedures and good knowledge on metrology and market surveillance. Previous experience in project management (preferably also managing a team composed of EU and local Experts) Excellent command of written and spoken English. A spoken capability in Russian or Azeri would be an asset Profile and tasks of the RTA Assistant Role and tasks The Assistant of the RTA will be responsible for providing logistical/administrative support, technical translation and interpretation services to the RTA to facilitate the implementation of the activities of the work plan. She/he will in particular assist in the preparation of working documents, organise and participate in work sessions held with the staff of the SOCCM, participate in field visits, prepare and assist in the conduct/reporting on PSC meetings and handle all logistic arrangements for seminars and training activities in consultation with RTA counterpart. The Assistant to the RTA will be of i nationality and work full time for a duration of 24 months in and will be based at the headquarter office of SOCCM in Baku. The Assistant to the RTA will be remunerated through the Twinning budget. Profile Qualification and skills University level education. Fluency in Russian is essential (both written and spoken) and working knowledge of English. PC Computer literacy with significant knowledge of common software applications such as MS word, excel and power-point. Good inter-personal skills. General professional experience At least 3 years of professional experience. Experience in the functioning of international cooperation project. Prior experience/background in projects related to food safety would be an asset. Specific professional experience Prior work experience as project coordinator or as project assistant is required Profile and tasks of the short-term experts Short-Term experts The RTA will be assisted by a pool of short-term experts so as to cover the full range of expertise required. These will be suitably qualified and capable to provide the necessary skills according to the activities mentioned above. 15

16 Profiles for the short-term experts: All are expected to hold a university degree (or equivalent). Typical experience in technical regulations sector should be about 5 10 years. Their tasks will be focussed on seminars and workshops/trainings or some short-term specific consultancy. They shall be able to work in English, knowledge of Azeri language or Russian would be an asset. Standardization experts able to organise training courses on methods used in EU standardization bodies and standardisation committees in EU bodies. One of the standardization experts shall be experienced in the information system management and/or design for standards bodies so that he will support in the implementation of an Internet based standards dissemination system. Experts on the market regulation principles (New Approach, Old and Global Approach) and able to detail and enhance the pre-market and post-market surveillance. They will have to expose these concepts not only to SASMP experts but also to other Ministries or Institutions which may be less technical regulations oriented but more practical on the implementation aspects (Customs, Justice, Police). Metrology experts who will explain the fundamentals and hierarchy of metrology. They will be able to organise seminars for a wide participants base, about 25 people including metrology customers. Metrology experts who will support in updating the legal metrology best practice in EU. Deep knowledge of EU Directives is important for these tasks. Experts of the specific vertical EU Directives will be selected depending of the sectors. Legal experts will be requested to support in drafting i technical legislation at first on horizontal matters and then sector specific regulations. Deep experience of technical legislation implementation is necessary. Good knowledge of at least one vertical directive in detail will be an asset. The total number of short-term experts is estimated to 700 man-days. 4. Institutional Framework The beneficiary institution will be the SASMP (AZS) State Agency on Standardization, Metrology and Patents- as the incumbent institution competent for organizing and managing all the activities related to standardization, quality infrastructure and horizontal technical regulations. SASMP is presently undergoing an overall reorganisation and streamlining in order to strengthen its capacity for the implementation of EU technical regulations. The institutional framework of the Beneficiary is expected to be seriously modified as a result of the project; streamlined duties and necessary competences will have been built and financial business modelling will be available for the Beneficiary for taking decisions at State level, supported by regulatory legislation. Examples: Accreditation Body may be independent of today s institution Laboratories may be organised for performing independently Patents and Industrial Intellectual property may be separated from the SASMP. 16

17 5. Budget The budget allocation to this twinning project is 1.4 MEUR. 6. Implementation Arrangements 6.1. Implementing Agency The Implementing Agency who will be responsible for tendering, contracting and accounting of this twinning project is the European Commission. The person in charge is: Mrs Carla MONTESI European Commission, EuropeAid Co-operation Office Centralised operations for Europe, the Mediterranean and Middle-East Office J-54 4/211 Avenue de Bourget 1 B-1049 Brussels Tel: Fax: carla.montesi@ec.europa.eu 6.2. Main counterpart in the BC The main counterpart in will be the SASMP (AZS), State Agency of Standardization, Metrology and Patents. Focal point Sabig ABDULLAYEV Director of International Cooperation Division State Agency on Standardization, Metrology and Patents Republic of Tel: Ext: 142 Fax: SAbdullayev@azstand.gov.az 17

18 Azeri Project Leader Ramiz HASANOV Director General of SASMP State Agency on Standardization, Metrology and Patents Republic of Tel: Mr. HASANOV The Azeri Project Leader (PL) will act as the counterpart of the Member State PL. In close cooperation with him/her, the Azeri PL ensures the overall steering and coordination of the project, the operational dialogue and the backing at political level. The PL's His seniority will ensure his ability to mobilise the necessary staff in support of the efficient implementation of the project. He will also coordinate the Project Steering Committee (PSC) from the Azeri side. RTA Counterpart Sabig ABDULLAYEV Director of International Cooperation Division State Agency on Standardization, Metrology and Patents Republic of Tel: Ext: 142 Fax: Mr. ABDULLAYEV, the RTA Counterpart will work with the RTA on a daily basis to ensure proper coordination and implementation of all the activities of the project and achieve an efficient transfer of knowledge. He will be responsible, together with the RTA, of finalising the reports to be submitted to the PLs for the Project Steering Committee. His profile should be as follows: - Good coordination, management and administration capabilities - University degree in a relevant field - Fluency in English and have experience in similar international projects - Knowledge/practice of EU projects management, the PCM methodology for project coordination is an asset for managing and monitoring EU projects. Special Means/ Input from the i Beneficiary: SAMP has engaged a voluntary project coordination and management task force acting as the coordination unit between the internal departments of SASMP and the Member State Administration responsible persons. This task force is based on SASMP s International Cooperation Division experts who already coordinate all donor related activities for SASMP. In order to ensure in-time and efficient implementation of the project, SASMP has scheduled to deploy a special training programme provided with support from GTZ/PTB focused on PCM project management. 18

19 All the members of the coordination unit will get trained on PCM during the coming weeks (June 2007) before even the GTZ project starts Contracts Only one twinning contract is foreseen for this project. Separate contracts are foreseen for the procurement of equipment for metrology laboratories. The investment project is not financed by the present twinning project. A call for tender for this equipment will be launched (which will contribute to the success of this twinning project) and expertise is required in drafting the technical specifications of the call for tender for equipment (following specific EC procurement rules). The investment project amount is under estimation and will be available for the project fiche implementation sequence with 3 components: SASMP s own investment capacity for 2007 is estimated An investment project fiche based on the ENPI-action plan financial tool will be engaged when the feasibility study will be provided by a parallel project ongoing at this moment with PTB and its 2 metrology experts Other donors which have been identified but whose engagement depends of the feasibility study The feasibility study shall detail the metrology investment project in 4 stages: Stage 1: Metrology reference network through a minimum set of units to be defined depending of the absorption capability of the metrology team of the Agency Stage 2: Medium-term completion plan for the reference standards Stage 3: Deploying the network to secondary level Stage 4: Making function the calibration laboratories and legal metrology missions of the laboratories In order to have a progressive and continuous investment plan fitting with the action plan priorities. It is expected that the metrology investment network is completed and operational in 4 years from start (started investing in etalons already in 2006). The twinning MS partner will be involved in the assessment of the stage investments and the drafting of the detailed specifications, tender organisation, implementation of the laboratories (activities E.3 E.6). 19

20 7. Implementation Schedule (indicative) 7.1. Launching of the call for proposals October Start of project activities September Work plan duration 24 months. 8. Crosscutting issues Each Twinning Partner is committed to comply with the equal opportunities requirements as well as to the environmental and sustainability requirements of the EU. 9. Conditionality and sequencing It is necessary to have an internationally accepted national metrology system and even preferably EA recognised metrology laboratories, without which i accreditations would not be recognised in Europe or other regions. Therefore a detailed feasibility study is expected to be available at the date of project engagement regarding activity component E on metrology in order to have the investment project scheduled and synchronized in parallel. See in Annex 2 the contents of the feasibility study ongoing and performed in June- July-August Funds necessary for engaging the investment project are necessary to be guaranteed by the beginning of the project so that the two projects run in parallel and synchronized. Furthermore, the implementation of the project requires full commitment and participation of the senior management within SASMP. They must be fully involved in the development and implementation of the policies, procedures and institutional changes delivered as project results. The SASMP shall fully cooperate with all other institutions included in the project. Senior management within all the responsible institutions will ensure that appropriate staff is made available to work with the Member State partner. They will also make sure that the Member State partner is provided with legislation and other documents necessary for the implementation of the project. SASMP will ensure adequate support and basic equipment for the work of the full team of experts. This includes office space, phone and fax, access to Internet and translation (when necessary). 20