GDRFA Documents Inspection Center awarded ISO/IEC 17025:2017

The General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs (GDRFA) in Dubai announced that its Documents Inspection Center has won an international accreditation ISO/IEC 17025:2017 from the Emirates International Accreditation Center. The recognition makes the Center a global testing and calibration laboratory in the field of travel documents verification in the country. His Excellency Major General Mohamed Ahmed Al Marri, General Director of GDRFA Dubai, received the certificate from Amina Ahmad, Executive Director of the Emirates International Accreditation Center (EIAC) and Vice Chair of the OIC/ SMIIC-Accreditation Committee and Vice President of the Arab Accreditation Cooperation (ARAC), in the presence of His Excellency General Ahmed Al Muhairi, Assistant General Director of Nationality Sector; and Major General Awad Al Awain, Assistant General Director of the Human and Financial Resources Sector; and Brigadier General Khalaf Al Ghaith, Assistant General Director of follow-up sector of violators and foreigners in GDRFA Dubai; and a number of officials from both sides. The latest accreditation adds further value to GDRFA’s achievements. With this accreditation, any examination report issued by the Directorate becomes internationally recognized. It provides any entity or agency inside the UAE or abroad with information about the validity of the travel document, including those from courts, nationality administrations, embassies, and consulates in the country. Moreover, the Directorate specializes in advanced training courses in the examination of travel documents and detecting forgery thereof. His Excellency Major General Mohammed Ahmed Al Marri praised the achievement of the Document Inspection Center, stating that this accomplishment will add a new world-class dimension to the Center, as it plays an important role in uncovering forged documents. The Center uses latest technology and devices, which is one of the factors that enabled it to win the accreditation. Major General Al Marri indicated that GDRFA Dubai seeks to fulfill its vision and make the UAE the best country in the world in terms of security and safety, by protecting its ports and confronting whoever tries to breach the security of the country, or to enter and exit its land with forged documents. He underlined that the Directorate serves as a strong buffer that protects the ports of the country, with the help of a qualified team of world-class experts who undergo training processes constantly. These efforts enable them to deal with the latest technologies and new systems to test suspected passports, even the ones that are forged with a high degree of professionalism. These features have undoubtedly contributed to achieving exemplary results within minutes. His Excellency Major General Al Marri extended his gratitude and appreciation to all the officials and employees of the Document Inspection Center for this outstanding achievement and praised their efforts in highlighting the Center's competence in detecting forged documents. This positively reflects on the level of services and strengthens the UAE's position in terms of the quality of governmental services and their efficiencies. His Excellency also thanked the EIAC for its ongoing efforts to recognize the Center as a national accreditation body, in addition to its role in accrediting conformity assessment bodies in the UAE and overseas. These efforts enhance the position of the emirate and the country, thereby facilitating trade exchanges. Amina Ahmed, Executive Director of the Emirates International Accreditation Center (EIAC), Vice Chair of the OIC/ SMIIC-Accreditation Committee and Vice President of the Arab Accreditation Cooperation (ARAC), confirmed that the Center has always been proud of its achievements accomplished at the local and international levels. “Accreditation of forensic laboratories and travel document examination laboratories fall within our priorities and represent a main role in establishing a solid ground in this vital sector that actively contributes to achieving security, safety, confidence and transparency in the issuance of examination results. GDRFA’s accreditation under international standard ISO / IEC 17025 and the guide of the International Laboratories Accreditation Corporation ILAC G 19, confirms its optimal application of the standards in the field of forensic science and document examination integrity that is based on several international references, including the European Network of Forensic Institutes, (ENFSI) and other relevant international bodies. In this regard we decided to use this kind of standard for accrediting this type of specialized testing laboratory under the umbrella of international recognition, ILAC MRA, to enable decision makers and the judicial authorities to rely on results that are comparable to their analogies anywhere in the world.” Aqeel Al Najjar, Advisor at GDRFA Dubai’s Documents Inspection Center, said: “We are delighted to receive this accreditation, which is considered a continuation of the achievements made by the Directorate both nationally and globally.” He noted that this international accreditation indicates that the Center fulfills all the necessary conditions, such as capabilities in technological testing equipment, information and online database, and technical expertise that allow samples to be tested in the place allocated to it, according to the highest international standards level. Aqeel Al Najjar added: “The accreditation will contribute to enhancing customer confidence in the document examination centre’s competence, technologically and cognitively in the field of its specialization. This is especially so since other government bodies such as courts will have the opportunity to obtain information about the results of examination of suspicious travel documents, in order to decide on criminal judgments and determine conviction or acquittal of those involved in judgments.” EIAC is a national accreditation body that has international recognition. It is located in the Emirate of Dubai and the authority is concerned with supervising and controlling business conformity assessment bodies operating in Dubai. These include calibration laboratories, testing laboratories, and forensic laboratories and forensic sciences, medical laboratories and certification bodies for individuals, systems and products, inspection bodies, in addition to the conformity assessment bodies for halal products. It obtained the international recognition from International Organization for the Accreditation of Laboratories and Inspection Bodies in 2009 and international recognition from the forum International accreditation body in 2013, and is the largest accreditation body in the Middle East region. To date, the Center has accredited more than 900 conforming assessment bodies worldwide and in more than 40 countries.