In line with the objective of further enabling EEAA in meeting its responsibilities at the central and local levels, a number of lines of action have been carried out during the year 2000/2001, and are planned to continue during the coming year of 2001/2002. These aim at the development of the institutional capacities of the Agency, both organizationally and administratively.

One such line of action entails the accreditation of the Central Laboratory of EEAA. This is carried out within the framework of support offered by the Egyptian Environmental Policy Program to the Egyptian National Accreditation Council (EGAC) of the Ministry of Industry, with the objective of assisting it in gaining recognition by the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC). The accreditation process is in response to legal needs for cases of non-compliance of different establishments to Law 4/1994 for the Environment. Within a three year period, laboratory quality assurance and quality control criteria would be developed, and the accreditation process extended to RBO laboratories.

Another line of action is concerned with the development of a new public complaint handling system, with assistance from Danida. This system integrates the different complaint response mechanisms that were already in place, comprising the Technical Secretariat of the MSEA, the Public Complaint Unit of EEAA, and the existing RBO's. The new system relies on the assessment of the prior systems, and makes use of international experiences in this field, as well as those of the Hot Line initiative in Egypt. The system has been tailored to classify the complaints received according to their nature and their geographical distribution throughout the Egyptian governorates.

During 2001/2002 the operationalization of the unit for the Management of Environmental Disasters will be carried out. Within the scope of support from the Egyptian Environmental Policy Program, the contingency plan framework and the standard operational procedures of the plan will be finalized over the coming eighteen months.