According to the «Quality Assurance and Accreditation in Higher Education and the Establishment and Operation of an Agency on Related Matters Laws, 2015 to 2021» (Article 4(c)) the [...] Accreditation shall be applied to the period provided for by the provisions of this Law and shall be repeated every five (5) years and that the procedure shall begin following the submission of an application by the 13 3(a) of 47(I)/2016. 3(b) of 47(I)/2016. 3(c) of 47(I)/2016. institution at least sixteen (16) months prior to the expiry of the validity of the previous accreditation: Provided further that, in case where the institution fails to submit the application within the time-limit of sixteen (16) months, the Agency may provide an additional time-limit of three (3) months for its submission and in case of non-submission of the application within the above time-limit, the Agency, upon a relevant decision thereof, shall apply the provisions of subsection (3) of section 5, for the smooth transition from the status of a recognized institution, department or study programme of higher education, as the case may be, to the status of non-recognition: Provided still further that, if for any reason and due to a fault of the Agency it becomes impossible to complete the Evaluation and Accreditation within the above period, then the previous Evaluation and Accreditation shall continue to be in force until completion of the relevant procedure:»