Ethiopia: Sanas Awards Ethiopian Leather Development Institute Laboratory

The South African National Accreditation System (SANAS) awarded the Ethiopian Leather Industry Development Institute's (LIDI) laboratory its third phase accreditation in accordance with the recognized International Standard, ISO/IEC; 17025:2005, on December 6, 2012.

SANAS accredited LIDI for its laboratory capacity after testing seven different aspects. LIDI spent 35 million Br in order to fulfill the requirements for accreditation.

These seven elements tested entailed abrasion resistance, whole shoe flexing (dry method), whole shoe flexing (wet method), flexing resistance, rapid sole adhesion and vamp flexing.

SANAS carried out the first and second accreditation phases in November 2008 and December 2010, issuing five and seven tests, respectively.

SANAS was established in 1976 as a South African company and is recognized by the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation. LIDI pays SANAS 5,000 dollars every year for 19 accredited tests, from nearly 150 tests, which LIDI performs for different companies.

The cost of the first and the second accreditation phases was covered by the United Nations Industrial Organization (UNIDO) using its total five-year budget of 10,000 dollars, for the 2008 to 2013 period, according to Aurela Calabro-Bellamoli CEO of UNIDO.

The financing awarded to LIDI from UNIDO comes from the Italian Cooperation which works closely with LIDI to develop the leather industry in Ethiopia.