Muscat Hosts Meetings of the Notified Bodies Working Groups 2025
On Sunday, 7 December 2025, the meetings of the Notified Bodies Working Groups 2025 commenced in Muscat. The event is organized by the GCC Standardization Organization (GSO) in cooperation and coordination with the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion of the Sultanate of Oman, with the participation of more than 110 representatives from notified bodies across 25 countries around the world, in addition to national standardization bodies from GCC member states and relevant authorities. The meetings will continue for five days.
In the opening ceremony, His Excellency Mr. Imad bin Khamis Al-Shukaili, Director General of the Directorate General for Specifications and Measurements at the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion in Oman, emphasized that hosting these meetings reflects the strong partnership between the Sultanate of Oman and the GSO, and supports efforts to build an advanced quality infrastructure that contributes to enhancing competitiveness and protecting consumers and the environment.
He explained that joint Gulf action has clearly shifted from planning to implementation through a unified platform for the Gulf Conformity Mark and the application of the “One Request – Two Outputs” principle for issuing both Gulf and national conformity certificates via the “HAZAM” platform. The platform serves as an integrated digital compliance system that provides a registry of approved products, a directory of conformity bodies, and direct technical support to ensure seamless integration with participating entities.
During the opening session of the Notified Bodies Working Groups 2025, GSO presented a visual briefing on its approach to adopting national regulations within unified Gulf frameworks, as well as an overview of the GCC system for adopting national technical regulations under the Gulf Conformity Mark (G-Mark). In addition, Oman, Bahrain, and Kuwait delivered presentations highlighting the technical tools supporting the implementation of the new G-Mark approach.
The President-Elect of the International Accreditation Organization, Eng. Ibrahim Al-Hawla, also presented a paper titled: “From ILAC & IAF to the International Accreditation Organization: Implications for Accreditation Systems and Designation Procedures in the GCC.” This was part of the activities of the Notified Bodies Working Groups 2025.
GSO further contributed to the opening session with a working paper on the Gulf pathways for implementing the GCC system through the adoption of national technical regulations, followed by a session to outline the roles and responsibilities of the working groups to enhance integration, exchange expertise, and achieve shared objectives among member states.
The first day concluded with presentations of reports by the heads of the working groups under the tracks of Policies, Harmonization, and Smart Services.
