The job has been made much easier with the support of the high quality, professional services provided by NATA for the ILAC Secretariat and the dedicated volunteers on the ILAC Executive Committee. 

The ILAC Secretary Annette Dever and her ILAC Secretariat colleagues are lauded for their outstanding work, especially considering the number of challenges and increasing workload they have faced this year. Queries and demands for information continue to increase.  However, the Secretariat unfailingly responds promptly and very diplomatically.  In a way, ILAC is a ‘victim’ of its own success as we increase the users of the ILAC MRA.  The number of comments and votes on new and revised ILAC documents keeps increasing, yet this workload is handled expertly and promptly by the Secretariat.   The Secretariat would be greatly assisted if ballots are returned promptly so that reminders can be avoided.  

The Secretariat has also been working diligently to understand changes in Dutch law which will require changes to the ILAC Articles of Association.  Revised text is being developed.   This has provided an opportunity to also review the ILAC bylaws and update them to reflect actual practice or improvements. 

The Executive Committee has been addressing a number of matters.  Among them, rules changes, fee formula modification, efficiency of future meeting arrangements, and closer collaboration with our IAF counterparts.  We have agreed to have one interim set of meetings next year during the first week of May in Epsom or Frankfurt (rather than the previous March and June arrangements).  This will save travel costs but require us to be more disciplined in managing our agendas.  We are making use of virtual meeting software to address issues between meetings.     

The ILAC Executive Committee is pleased to have successfully negotiated with NATA for another four years of managing the Secretariat.  The General Assembly will be asked to ratify the updated Deed of Agreement. The Executive Committee has set up a task group led by Merih Malmqvist to update the Strategic Plan entering its fourth and final year in 2012.

I am very pleased to work with my good friend, IAF Chair Randy Dougherty, to jointly promote accreditation and the MRA/MLAs globally.  Our joint presentation at the June meeting of the WTO TBT Committee was very well received and we repeated the presentation at the IAAC General Assembly in Quito, Ecuador to an audience of 200 people.  Our collaboration provides an opportunity to economize on representing IAF and ILAC for an ever growing list of liaisons that both ILAC and IAF continue to support.  We are grateful for the tremendous contribution of all our volunteer liaison officers and their organisations. Also to Al Squirrell, the Secretariat Liaison Coordinator for keeping track of the liaison activitues and representing ILAC at numerous meetings of some of our liaison organizations such as ISO and BIPM.         

Finally, work continues for the launch of the extension of the ILAC MRA for inspection body accreditation.

Take care!

 Secretariat Staff

 The ILAC Secretariat said farewell to Alison Hay, Administrator, ILAC Secretariat in July. Alison made a valuable contribution to the work of the ILAC Secretariat over the past 6 years and we wish her well in her future undertakings.

 We are pleased to welcome Joelle Nicolas to the ILAC Secretariat. Joelle commenced work in the Secretariat on 18 August 2011.

 Joelle migrated to Australia in the mid 80s from Mauritius. After working for 11 years in the Public Service, Joelle took up a position with NATA in February 1997 to work in certification. With the creation of  NCSI, a subsidiary of NATA, later in the same year, Joelle officially moved from NATA to NCSI. In 2008, Joelle returned to NATA as Secretary for the field of Measurement Science and Technology.

 The current staff of the ILAC Secretariat, all of whom work part time, is therefore:

Annette Dever                ILAC Secretary

Alan Squirrell                 ILAC Executive Liaison Officer
Sharon Kelly                  ILAC Coordinator
Joelle Nicolas                 ILAC Administrator
Rose Bevins                  ILAC Administrator

The ILAC Arrangement

 As at 30 August 2011, there were 72 Signatories (Full Members) to the ILAC Arrangement, representing 59 economies.

 Progress is continuing towards establishing an international Mutual Recognition Arrangement (MRA) for Inspection.

 ILAC Membership

ILAC membership as at 30 August 2011 is as follows:

• 72 Full Members (Signatories to the ILAC Arrangement) representing 59 economies;
• 20 Associates representing 32 economies;
• 19 Affiliates representing 22 economies;
• 5 Regional Cooperation Bodies
• 26 Stakeholders

 The ILAC membership now stands at 142 organisations and covers a total of 109 different economies worldwide. Approximately 39,000 laboratories and over 6,600 inspection bodies are accredited by the 72 ILAC Full Members (signatories to the ILAC Arrangement).

 ILAC Executive

 The ILAC Executive met in Istanbul, Turkey on 21 June 2011 and this was followed by a joint meeting of the ILAC and IAF Executives on the 22nd. Both meetings were very productive and were very well supported by the excellent arrangements undertaken by our hosts, TURKAK.

 In 2011 the ILAC Executive Committee commenced their review of the ILAC Articles and Bylaws and the Deed of Agreement for the provision of the ILAC Secretariat Services, during the two day meeting in March. The work on the revision of the Articles and Bylaws is progressing well and the details of the Deed of Agreement between ILAC and NATA have been finalised and this document has been distributed to members for information and final review. The Executive Committee has made further progress on the administrative aspects of integrating the inspection activity into the ILAC structure, with Mr Lal Ilan, from UKAS being appointed as Acting Chair of the ILAC Inspection Committee.

 The ILAC and IAF Executive Committees are currently working with the International Telecommunications Union Standardisation Sector (ITU-T) on the development of a tripartite MoU between the three organisations, which will lay the foundations for cooperation in areas of mutual activity in the future.

 ILAC Liaisons

The Liaison Database, located in the members area of the ILAC website, continues to serve as the main repository for the ever increasing number of reports and documents that are produced as part of ILAC’s liaison activity.   It can be accessed via the members area of the ILAC website. (ILAC members who have not as yet sought access to the Members Area of the website can do so on-line, via the ‘Home’ page of the website).

ILAC thanks all of the ILAC liaison officers, and their organisations, who give up their time to assist ILAC in carrying out these activities for the benefit of all ILAC members.

 US CPSC Updates

All members with laboratories involved in testing children’s products under the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA) that was signed by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) are reminded to ensure both they and their accredited laboratories have subscribed to the update service provided the CPSC. The legislation impacts on nearly all children’s products entering the US market and new requirements are added regularly. 

In addition to more stringent criteria and new requirements for children’s products, CPSIA mandates that children’s products be tested by CPSC-recognized laboratories. CPSC recognition requires laboratories to have ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation for the specific tests, with the accreditation from an accreditation body who is a signatory to the ILAC Mutual Recognition Arrangement (MRA).  Whether it be lead in toys or safety of cribs, the purpose of this law is to enhance the safety of children’s products.  For a comprehensive list and schedule of items and updates, please visit www.cpsc.gov/ABOUT/Cpsia/cpsia.HTML.

You may know EPTIS: the website www.eptis.orgon which PT providers publish and announce their PT schemes. Today, we list around 1350 PT schemes from 300 PT providers in 30 countries. Laboratories worldwide can use this free and easy service to find a suitable PT scheme. But do laboratories really use EPTIS and do they use it worldwide?

The bad news: we cannot tell exactly. The best way to find out would be interviewing a large number of laboratories in various countries. But this is costly and beyond our possibilities.

The good news: we can use other indicators that give us a rough picture. The most powerful information at our disposal are the IP numbers of computers that visit the EPTIS website. They provide some of the figures we are looking for. What can we learn from them about EPTIS?

Is it used? The number of visitors is relatively easy to determine. The EPTIS website is visited around 2000 times per month (no robots and multiple counts of the same IP). We have been monitoring this figure since the beginning of EPTIS in 2000 and it has grown smoothly over the years. Although not every visitor might run a query in the database itself, we believe it is a very helpful indicator showing that EPTIS is widely used and accepted.

Used by whom? IP numbers are traceable to specific hosts and this enables us to identify part of the organizations that visit EPTIS. For confidentiality reasons we will not make these details public. There are many laboratories, companies and institutes among our visitors, and though we are not able to resolve all IP numbers, we have the impression that EPTIS is used mainly by our target groups indeed.

Used where? IP numbers are also traceable to specific countries. To learn more about the geographic origin of our visitors we bundled the IP numbers of April – June and removed robots and double entries (on a month by month basis). Then we resolved the IP numbers, determined the countries and drew up the graph below. Interestingly,

• EPTIS was consulted from 135 countries worldwide (further analysis shows: 111 countries in 2007 and 125 in 2009);
• large economies (in terms of GDP) such as Brazil, China, Germany and the United States use EPTIS most, Japan being an exception;
• there are many smaller, developing economies that together account for 30-40% of the requests.

This analysis suggests that EPTIS is used by many laboratories and other organizations throughout the world. Considering that EPTIS started purely as an EU project in 2000, we find this development very encouraging. And we are particularly happy with our role helping laboratories in developing countries by improving their access to PT.

On behalf of the organizations involved in the EPTIS Consortium we would like to thank you for your use of, and trust in EPTIS. And should there be a gap on the map or if you have any idea how we could do more for your particular country or region, please let us know.

Johannes van de Kreeke, EPTIS Secretariat, BAM Berlin (Germany) – eptis@bam.de

IFCC has a project ‘Developing Quality Competence in Medical Laboratories (DQCML)’, focussed primarily on clinical laboratory services in countries with emerging economies. The overriding emphasis of the work of the project is to raise awareness of quality systems, with particular reference to ISO 15189 and medical laboratory accreditation. One way this is achieved is by providing financial support for initiatives to institute quality programmes. For example, support has been given to a collaborative project between the Australasian and Vietnamese Associations of Clinical Biochemists (AACB and VACB) to establish an external quality assessment (EQA) scheme in Vietnam. The support has enabled purchase of EQA material for distribution to laboratories in Vietnam and has funded a senior clinical biochemist from HO Chi Minh City to visit the headquarters of the Australian Chemical Pathology Quality Assurance Programmes in Adelaide, to receive training in the practical aspects of EQA scheme organisation.

The major remit of the project is to develop and provide education in the field of quality. This has predominantly been done by organising and presenting workshops, of two to three days duration, at the invitation of member National Societies of IFCC. Small teams, usually three or four people, of IFCC Officers with expertise and experience in the field of laboratory quality, have visited Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Tunisia and the Philippines in the past two years, to conduct such workshops. These have covered the basics of quality systems, the accreditation process and specific components of clinical laboratory quality, such as analytical quality and the clinical interpretation of laboratory results. The balance of the workshop content is dependent on the state of knowledge and level of progress towards the implementation of quality systems and laboratory accreditation and is agreed in advance, in consultation with senior laboratory personnel in the host countries. In November 2011, a team will visit Nepal to present a workshop which will concentrate on analytical quality. It is hoped that following this, the process of introducing EQA into routine clinical laboratory practice in that country will begin. Following the workshops, future advice and support is always available to participants through continued contact with the presentation team

The workshops have been well received in those countries visited and it has been a delight to the teaching teams to meet laboratory scientists who are so eager to learn about quality and embrace the concepts of total quality management into the work of their laboratories.

IFCC is able to fund such workshops through the generosity of its corporate members. Abbott Diagnostics sponsors the Visiting Lecturer Programme, which finances the international travel of the workshop presenters. In a further development, to incorporate distance learning into the range of learning opportunities, a web-based module on ISO15189 is being prepared in collaboration with Siemens Diagnostics.

Back in 2002, WADA approached ILAC with the objective to use an existing pool of laboratory assessors from the ILAC Mutual Recognition Arrangement signatory assessment bodies to develop an international team of assessors qualified to perform concurrent assessment against ISO/IEC 17025 and WADA’s International Standard for Laboratories (ISL).  As a result of the successful collaboration between ILAC and WADA, an established group of ISL assessors has been created that currently comprises 48 international assessors from 28 economies. This group underwent training by WADA with respect to the ISL and relevant Technical Documents.  Since 2004, eight annual ISL training sessions for international assessors have been organized and financially supported by WADA.  In addition, in 2011 WADA invited all European-based ISL-trained assessors to an advanced training session, which had a much broader agenda than usual and also included discussion topics such as the legal side of anti-doping activities and the concept of the Athlete’s Biological Passport.  Further, the members of the WADA-ILAC AIC Liaison Group were also invited to attend this training session as independent observers. The similar WADA training session for all other ISL-trained assessors is scheduled for 2012.

 As an outcome of the ongoing collaboration between ILAC and WADA, two ILAC Communications were prepared and released (in August 2004 and November 2009) for the attention of accreditation bodies providing accreditation to WADA laboratories. These documents are aimed at clarifying the respective roles of both organizations in relation to the accreditation of anti-doping laboratories.

 The WADA-ILAC AIC Liaison Group was established in October 2004. The Group meets on an annual basis to address issues of common interest relating to the assessment of the WADA-accredited laboratories as well as laboratories in the probationary phase of WADA accreditation.  

 At the third WADA World Conference on Doping in Sport (Madrid, November 2007), the ILAC-WADA relationship was formalized. This collaborative interaction was further strengthened at the ILAC General Assembly meeting (Shanghai, October 2010) through the re-confirmation and signing of the memorandum of understanding between the two organizations.

 One important aspect of ILAC-WADA collaboration is to ensure that ISL and ISO/IEC 17025 rules are well coordinated and complementary.  ILAC and WADA continue to collaborate to identify areas for improvement with respect to laboratory accreditation. This includes but is not limited to: harmonization of laboratory assessment(s): the conduct when feasible, of joint assessment(s) of anti-doping laboratories; and the exchange of relevant information by mutual participation in meetings and conferences organized by both organizations.

APLAC MRA Council

A successful MRA Council meeting was held in Auckland, New Zealand on 11 and 12 May.  The Board of Management met for two days prior to the Council meeting.  We would like to thank our hosts, IANZ, for their hospitality and co-ordination of the arrangements for both meetings. 

APLAC Membership

Full details of APLAC’s members (37 Full and 8 Associate members) and its MRA signatories can be found at our website:  www.aplac.org

APLAC Training Courses

The first of three workshops “Enhanced Training for PT Experts”, being run in conjunction with PTB was held in Bangkok, Thailand from 1 – 4 August 2011.  The workshop was most successful and we thank our joints hosts NSC-ONAC, DMSc and DSS for their organisation and co-ordination of the workshop. 

We would also like to thank our principal trainers Mr Dan Tholen, Vice Chair of the APLAC Proficiency Testing Committee and Dr Clemens Sanetra, Consultant for PTB.  They were assisted by Dr Raviwan Artsamang, Manager of DSS Center for Laboratory Proficiency Testing (CLPT) and Ms Rachada Hempattawee, Senior Scientist at DSS CLPT. 

The workshop was organised and hosted by Ms Suda Nantavithya, Manager of DSS BLA. 

APLAC’s second training course for 2011, ”Statistical Methods for Proficiency Testing” is being held 11 to 13 October in New Delhi, India.  At the time of writing this article registration for the course had closed.  A more detailed report on the training course will appear in the next edition of “ILAC News”. 

APLAC web site

 Our website has frequent updates so please feel free to visit it at www.aplac.org 

APLAC Office Bearers

Two positions on APLAC’s Board of Management were open for nomination and subsequent election at the General Assembly meeting in Manila. 

Following the resignation of the previous Chair of the APLAC Public Information Committee, the Vice-Chair, Mr Roger Muse of ACLASS, USA, was appointed as Acting Chair of the Public Information Committee.  An election for this position was held at the General Assembly meeting in Manila in September.   

Details of APLAC’s new Board of Management members and Public Information Committee Chair will be in the next edition of “ILAC News”. 

APLAC at PAC

Ms Chang Kwei Fern and Michael Fraser attended the 18^th PAC Plenary meetings in Manila, The Philippines in June.  

Chang Kwei Fern was invited to attend the PAC Executive Committee meeting as an observer. This initiative for the Chairs of both APLAC and PAC to attend each others executive meetings is viewed as an important mechanism in improving the working relationship between APLAC and PAC.

The revised Memorandum of Understanding between APLAC and PAC was signed by Mr Shinichi Iguchi and Ms Chang Kwei Fern as part of a special signing ceremony held in conjunction with the Welcome Reception Dinner on the Monday evening.

We were pleased to have the Mr Shinichi Iguchi, Chair of PAC and Ms Belinda Mort, PAC Secretary, attend the Manila meetings. 

APLAC at IAAC

APLAC was invited to attend the IAAC General Assembly and associated meetings being held in Quito, Ecuador on 25 and 26 August 2011 by IAAC and the hosts of the meetings Organismo de Acreditación Ecuatoriano, OAE. Ms Chang Kwei Fern gave her apologies for being unable to attend and the APLAC Secretary represented APLAC at the meetings. 

The IAAC General Assembly agreed to extend the IAAC MLA scope to include the following:

 •           Proficiency Testing Providers, according to ISO/IEC 17043;

 •           Reference Materials Producers, according to ISO/IEC Guide 34, in conjunction with ISO/IEC 17025.

APLAC is very appreciative of the invitation from IAAC and Organismo de Acreditación Ecuatoriano to attend these meetings. 

 Michael and Janet

His Excellency Dr. Samir el Sayed, the Egyptian Minister of Industry and Foreign Trade who was represented by Eng. Hassan Shaarawi the Executive Director of the Egyptian Accreditation Council (EGAC) and Mr. Mohamed Ben Youssef the Director General of the Arab Industrial Development and Mining Organization (AIDMO) were the guests of honour.

ARAC is one of the main pillars of the Pan Arab quality infrastructure established by the Ministerial Decree of the Arab Industrial Development and Mining Organization (AIDMO) in June 2008 and its Bylaws were approved by the Ministerial Council on May 2010.

All Arab Accreditation Bodies are invited to be members in ARAC, not withstanding being within the structure of AIDMO, ARAC has the right of full independence and impartiality in decision making.

ARAC is a planning and coordinating agency to support inter/intra Arab trade (22 Arab countries), improve the competitiveness of Arab goods and services and to facilitate health and safety of the public and the environment with the aim of extending its services from the current membership of 12 to accommodate all the Arab world.

ARAC, with the financial Support from the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) in cooperation with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) in its 2 year programme will be striving to achieve its objectives and cooperate in building the capacity of accreditation across the Arab World with the goal of sustaining an internationally acceptable mutual recognition arrangement.

Accreditation which is the process of providing recognition of competence of conformity assessment bodies such as testing and calibration laboratories, certification bodies (management system/ product /personnel) and inspection bodies contributes to the development of Arab economies by providing confidence and trust.

The Minister of Industry and foreign trade in his speech delivered by Mr. Shaarawi, noted the key role accreditation plays in socio economic development and welcomed the establishment of ARAC as a platform upon which the Arab World can build and develop its accreditation infrastructure. The Minister also noted that Quality infrastructure has become a mandatory requirement for sustainable trade and economic growth and the business spill over in job creation, regional integration, common markets, peace and security, he said.

He concluded his speech by encouraging ARAC together with the other quality pillars to operate in such a manner as to gain international recognition and trust and to cooperate with other regions of the world.

Mohamed Ben Youssef, the Director General of the Arab Industrial Development and Mining Organization (AIDMO) noted that the implementation of the regional standardization strategy adopted by AIDMO is aiming to achieve regional integration, harmonization and effective coordination in the quality infrastructure ensuring compliance with international trade rules and regulations while the current project is focused on regional cooperation in Accreditation. He also noted that emphasis should be placed on the cooperation among the Arab Accreditation bodies within the framework of ARAC with the more developed Accreditation bodies contributing to develop the less developed ones along with the global cooperation of ARAC with the Regional and International Accreditation bodies.

As part of the launch the ARAC plaque was revealed amongst cheers from the delegates in attendance, marking a milestone in ARAC’s history.

The launch was followed by the inaugural ARAC Executive Committee meeting during which two technical Committees were formed, a Technical Committee and a Communication Committee to commence implementing an ambitious work plan.

 The ARAC launch received wide coverage in the Egyptian media and television

So far the following 12 EA members publish full data on accreditation of laboratories at least: CAI (Czech Republic), COFRAC (France), DANAK (Denmark), DAkkS (Germany), ENAC (Spain), HAA (Croatia), FINAS (Finland), INAB (Ireland), IPAC (Portugal), PCA (Poland), SNAS (Slovakia) and UKAS (United Kingdom).

ACCREDIA (Italy) and SWEDAC (Sweden) have also contacted the EA Secretariat to initiate the process of data publication.

In the very near future, the EA Search Facility should be extended to the inspection activity, for which a key word list has just been approved by the EA Inspection Committee.

Please have a look at: http://db.european-accreditation.org/

Later on, BAS, the Bulgarian national accreditation body, signed the EA MLA for calibration and testing, thus becoming an EA MLA signatory for all accreditation activities covered by the EA MLA.

Among the current 33 EA full members, 30 so far are signatories to the EA MLA, out of which 26 have signed for all accreditation activities presently covered by the MLA.

 Associate Membership re-introduced

As part of the EA Strategic Plan for 2010-2015, the revision of the EA Articles of Association and Rules of Procedure has been finalized and presented at the EA General Assembly in May 2011. The revised AoA and RoP are now published on the EA website.

 The main change lies in the re-introduction of the EA Associate Membership. The criteria for membership have been revised accordingly and published in EA-1/17 – Supplement 1: Criteria for Membership. This revision was made not only to define membership criteria for Associate Members, but also to align the document with Regulation (EC) 765/2008 requirements.

 EA has now two types of members: 

• Full Members that are national accreditation bodies legally appointed, as referred to in Regulation (EC) 765/2008, in a Member State of the EU or the EFTA, or in a country formally identified by the EU or EFTA as a candidate country for EU or EFTA membership;
• Associate Members that are the national accreditation bodies legally appointed as such by countries or economies identified by the EU or the EFTA as potential candidate countries or economies for EU or EFTA membership¹, or identified by the EU² in the European Commission’s European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) as countries or economies of particular importance.

¹ “Potential candidates for EU membership" as stated by the European Council meeting in Feira in June 2000 are Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo (under UN Security Council Resolution 1244), Montenegro, and Serbia.

² Countries in the EU’s Neighbourhood Policy are: Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Egypt, Georgia, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Moldova, Morocco, The Palestinian Authority, Syria, Tunisia, and Ukraine.

The applications for EA Associate Membership have been processed by the EA Multi-Lateral Agreement Council which, in September 2011, should provide the EA Executive Committee with recommendations to be decided upon at the EA General Assembly in November 2011.

After approval by the EA General Assembly in May 2011, the EA Laboratory Committee is to start four new work items concerning:

- the elaboration of new guidelines on how to use ILCs with few participants;

- the revision of EA-4/15:2003 Accreditation for Bodies Performing Non-Destructive Testing, with some input from the EA Inspection Committee;

- a small update of EA-4/09:2003 Accreditation of Sensory Testing Laboratories;

- the revision of EA-3/05:1993, EA-3/06:1994, EA-3/07:1993, and Assessor Training, in order to renew the assessor training guidance and replace the three documents with one and cover training of all accreditation activity.

The LC is elaborating a policy for EA ILC activity to which a workshop has been devoted in September 2011.

Discussions are intensifying on accreditation of reference material producers: draft guidelines for harmonization of accreditation of RMPs and the establishment of a new technical network specific for RMPs have been considered at the LC meeting in September 2011.

The LC is planning a Workshop on Food Testing to be hosted on 8 December 2011 by the Belgian national accreditation body (BELAC) in Brussels. Main subjects are accreditation of official control laboratories and GMO testing laboratories.

The LC TFG on Accreditation of Proficiency Testing Providers presented the outcome of the analysis of items that need to be highlighted as accreditation requirements in the transition from ILAC G13 to ISO 17043. The paper has been published on the intranet for use by the EA evaluators as well.

Finally, one of the most striking trends resulting from the last survey on the number and breakdown of CABs accredited within EA by December 2010 is the 31% increase in the number of PT providers accredited by EA full members, rising from 61 in end 2009 to 80 in end 2010. It is also worth stressing that the total number of EA-member accredited laboratories has broadly stabilized in 2010, with a slight 1.7% increase – compared to 10% last year. Further results from the survey are available on the EA website at:

http://www.european-accreditation.org/content/news/surveys.htm

On the EA Inspection Committee’s side, the current discussions are mainly dealing with the revision of ISO/IEC 17020, of which the draft international standard (DIS) is out for voting until 13 June 2011. The IC Chair, Norbert Müller (BMWFJ), has stressed the utmost importance for EA ABs to carry out an exhaustive check of the DIS and to put forward any strong concerns and objections to their National Organizations for Standardization in order to implement a good standard for the coming years.

It was already agreed to inform IAF that an excessive subcontracting by IBs as allowed in Clause 6.3 of the DIS is a matter of great concern for EA-member ABs. The IC agreed that there should be a clause introduced to prohibit extensive subcontracting.

The issue of the impartiality criteria for IB types also raised lively discussions: no consensus was achieved on the question whether the 3 types A, B and C should be replaced by only 2 levels (general and 3rd party).

Traceability of measurements (application of ILAC P10), internal audits and monitoring of inspectors were other topics discussed at the meeting.

The IC members also commented the new draft ILAC P10 contains a reference to inspection. It was understood that P10 is already referenced in ILAC/IAF A4 and is applicable to measurements by critical instruments (as defined in ISO/IEC 17025) also in inspection.

At last, a first common approach to the flexible scope has been defined in the inspection field, asserting that:

• the principle of flexibility is already well established as far as accreditation of IBs is concerned;
• flexibility is defined by the description of the scope through the selection of: product standards; products; group of products; EU directive (and selection of modules).

This outcome is to be put forward to the EA HHC for further consideration during the revision of EA-2/15: EA Requirements for the Accreditation of Flexible Scopes.

Graham Talbot (UKAS, UK) and Daniel Pierre (COFRAC, France) have been re-elected as the EA Chair and Vice-Chair respectively.

The majority of current EA Executive Members were also re-elected, except for Norbert Müller, replaced by Rolf Straub (SAS, Switzerland) as the Chair of the Inspection Committee, and Christina Waddington, replaced by Paolo Bianco (ACCREDIA, Italy) as the Chair of the Laboratory Committee. Norbert and Christina had indicated their wish to step down after busy and successful mandates!

Hanspeter Ischi (see picture), who efficiently led the TFG dedicated to the revision of EA Articles of Association and Rules of Procedure, has also been replaced by Ignacio Pina (ENAC, Spain) as an additional member of the Executive Committee.

The EA General Assembly in May 2011 also elected Jĭrĭ RUZICKA (CAI, Czech Republic) as Chair of the Financial Oversight Committee, as well as Filippo TRIFILETTI (ACCREDIA, Italy) and Claudio BOFFA (NAB-MALTA, Malta) as FOC members, for a mandate starting on 26 May 2011 until 31 December 2013.

The Secretariat secured funding for the course from the Physikalisch Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB). The Asia Pacific Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (APLAC) provided the training of the peer evaluators with Mr Barry Ashcroft and Ms Roxanne Robinson as the two experts identified by APLAC to provide the training. The course took place from 6 – 8 June 2011 in Pretoria, South Africa. The following were the first group of candidates to be trained as peer evaluators for AFRAC:

1. Mr Koffi Kouassi - Société Ivoirienne de Raffinage (SIR) Côte d’Ivoire
2. Mr Amani Romuald - Laboratoire BioConnex Côte d’Ivoire
3. Mr Mahmoud Eltayeb – Egyptian Accreditation Council (EGAC) Egypt
4. Prof. Adel Shehata – Egyptian Accreditation Council (EGAC) Egypt
5. Mr Chankar Bheekhun – Mauritius Accreditation Service (MAURITAS) Mauritius
6. Mr Robin Gopee – Mauritius Accreditation Service (MAURITAS) Mauritius
7. Mr Barrak Moslem – Tunisian Accreditation Council (TUNAC) Tunisia
8. Mrs Sonia Mahdoui – Tunisian Accreditation Council (TUNAC) Tunisia
9. Mrs Maureen Mutasa – Southern African Development Community Accreditation Service (SADCAS) Botswana
10. Mrs Christinah Leballo – South African National Accreditation System (SANAS) South Africa
11. Mr Mpho Phaloane – South African National Accreditation System (SANAS) South Africa
12. Mr Marcel Gbaguidi - Système Ouest Africain d’Accréditation (SOAC) UEMOA Côte d’Ivoire (Observer)

The second part of the training is exposing the trained peer evaluators to pre-peer evaluations. The Secretariat is exploring such opportunities.

AFRAC wishes to extend its gratitude to PTB for funding the course, as well as APLAC for providing trainers to run the course.

International Cooperation of BAB

Since 2007 BAB has been an Associate Member of the Asia Pacific Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (APLAC). In 2010, BAB obtained Affiliate Membership of International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC). Recently BAB obtained Associate Membership of Pacific Accreditation Cooperation (PAC) on 16 June in 2011 at the 18th plenary meeting of PAC, held in Manila, the Philippines. BAB promotes the recognition and acceptance of certificates issued by the organizations accredited by BAB to other accreditation bodies that have signed the MRA arrangement.

BAB will soon seek the membership of International Accreditation Forum (IAF). Accreditation bodies which are members of IAF are required to operate at the highest standard and require the bodies they accredit to comply with appropriate international standards. Certificates issued by bodies accredited by members of the IAF Multilateral Recognition Arrangement (MLA) are relied upon all over the world because the MLA assures customers that the certificate is credible.

Training and  Seminar organized and participated

With the aim to develop skilled manpower and raising awareness among the stakeholders in the area of conformity assessment, BAB arranges training, seminars, and symposiums. On last February, 2011 with the cooperation of Standards Malaysia, BAB arranged a three days training program on ISO/IEC 17025:2005 and ISO/IEC 17011:2004, where the Lead Assessor Mr Wan Rukiman from STANDARDS MALAYSIA was the resource person. 25 participants including lab professionals, university teachers and BAB officers took part in this training program. BAB arranged a seminar on “Accreditation and National Measurement Standard: Essential Element in any National Quality Infrastructure”. Dr Franz Hengstberger, international Expert of UNIDO was the keynote presenter, fifty national experts were present at the seminar.

Bangladesh Accreditation Board (BAB) has organized a Lead Assessor Course on ISO/IEC 17025:2005 which was conducted by Qualified Lead Assessors from SIRIM Berhad, Malaysia. 17 participants from different testing and calibration laboratories in Bangladesh including 8 (eight) BAB officers participated in the course. The course was held over forty hours. All of the participants have successfully passed the course, based on a three hour written examination, assignment, quiz, group activity and class performance.

BAB utilizes each opportunity at home and abroad to build a competent workforce. Six BAB officers participated in the Workshop on Laboratory Accreditation & Aspects of Quality System which was conducted by UNIDO-VIMTA, South-South training facility for testing and calibration laboratories at VIMTA laboratory in Hyderabad, India. In addition, BAB officers also participated as observers in different Pre-assessment, Final Assessment and Surveillance Assessment with different accreditation bodies such as Norwegian Accreditation (NA), National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL), INDIA and National Accreditation Board for Certification Bodies (NABCB), India at Bangladesh Standard &Testing Institute, Textile Laboratories and Tokai Electrical Meter Industry in Bangladesh. Recently four (4) BAB officers participated in an attachment assessor training program at Standards Malaysia.

World Accreditation Day Observed

Bangladesh Accreditation Board celebrated the World Accreditation Day on 9 June 2011. A seminar was held to mark the occasion on 8 June 2011. Industries Minister, Mr Dilip Barua graced the occasion as chief guest. He stressed the importance of Accreditation in the national economy. He also urges BAB to take the necessary initiatives in creating awareness of Accreditation and ensured all stakeholders of providing the necessary support from government. Federation of Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FBCCI) President A K Azad assured cooperation from the trade bodies to the government in this regard. Besides BAB Chairman, BAB Director General, Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industries President Mr Asif Ibrahim also spoke on the occasion. BAB has published a souvenir marking the day, where The President of Peoples Republic of Bangladesh and Prime Minister of Government of Peoples Republic of Bangladesh gave their speeches highlighting the importance of accreditation. BAB also published several promotional materials like colorful poster, booklet, bag, pad, pen etc. to mark the occasion.

Other areas

BAB feels that people’s attachment is necessary to fulfill its goal. In this respect BAB published a good number of Accreditation related articles to several national daily newspapers. Besides, BAB regularly communicates with its important stakeholders like Association of Certification Bodies, Association of Laboratories, and different trade bodies etc.

BAB has taken initiatives to automate its own operations. The Application process is now online and the rest of the operations are in the process of being automated. BAB has made its website more user friendly and enriched with information. Its office area now had Wi-fi coverage. Thus the activities of BAB have been widened in a meaningful way.

On the occasion of the World Accreditation Day, Bureau of Accreditation celebrated with a symposium with the theme “Supporting the work of Regulators”. The purpose of this workshop was to focus on how accreditation is used to support the work of Regulators, and also provide the reference information regarding to the management activities of the Ministries and Regulators in Vietnam. This is an opportunity to promote and enhance the accreditation activities in Vietnam.

The symposium was held in Hanoi and attracted 150 participants from the Ministries, Regulators (the representative of Prime Minister's Office, Ministry of Science and Technology, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.), Regulators at the Central and provincial level, and Representatives from CABs. The Deputy Minister of Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) - Dr Nguyen Quan also attended the meeting and presented a speech on behalf of MOST.

The participants were informed about the theme of the World Accreditation Day. The theme for this year focussed on how accreditation is used to support the work of Regulators. Nationally, there is greater recognition of accreditation, in particular from Regulators, who are adopting accreditation as a mechanism to deliver a multi-discipline solution that can support or act as an alternative to Legislation.

Keynote speakers of relevant Ministries and Regulators also presented speeches on the use of accreditation to support the work of Regulators in the field of aquatic product inspection, medical, calibration and a number of contemporary accreditation legislations on the structure and activities of accreditation bodies in Vietnam.

The symposium has successfully ended and provided an excellent opportunity for the Vietnam Regulators to use more accreditation results as well as bringing mutual benefits to businesses and community.

Members of the Senate and also representatives of the Ministry of Industry and Trade (the founder of CAI) took part in this gathering.

Also, representatives of ministries and other authorities attended; all of which cooperate in the field of the accreditation system provided by CAI and make use of the accredited conformity assessment bodies. Among other attendants were members of the Quality Council of the Czech Republic – an advisory body of the Czech Republic Government, members of CAI bodies – the Board of directors, the Supervisory board, the Accreditation board and Technical Committees; personalities who started the accreditation system in the Czech Republic and CAI. Last but not least former and present employees of CAI also attended.

The opening speech was given by Senator Vítězslav Jonáš, vice-chairman of the National Economy Committee, Agriculture and Transport, who highlighted the importance and benefits of accreditation as a tool for ensuring conformity assessment and the bodies’ competence. Afterwards, Jan Duben, Director of the Department of Harmonization and Communications Services at the Ministry of Industry and Trade summarized, in his speech, a legal framework of accreditation in the EU and in the Czech Republic; and the changes in authorization following the New Legislative Framework (NLF) application as well as those of NLF arising from strengthening of accreditation. Subsequently, Senator Tomáš Kladívko, member of Foreign Affairs Committee, Defence and Security, addressed in his speech international importance of accreditation. Finally, the director of CAI Jiří Růžička listed the important milestones in the 20 year history of accreditation in the Czech Republic, a part of which was mentioned to have been dated in Czechoslovakia. He underlined this by saying: “The power of nations, societies and companies evolves from their own history”; since, the preparatory activities to establish the accreditation system were being done already at the Federal Office for Standardization and Measurement in 1988-1991. There was founded the independent Accreditation Department on February 1^st 1991. The first Accreditation Certificate was issued on March 14^th 1991 at that time still in the Czech and Slovak Federative Republic. Mr Ruzicka also passed greetings from Graham Talbot, Chairman of the European co-operation for Accreditation (EA), and his thanks for the work of CAIs´ delegates in EA committees which has been to the benefit of EA.

An important part of the ceremony were Awards for Extraordinary Contribution of Eminents in Accreditation system Creation and Development, which is administered by CAI. Commemorative medals and a letter of thanks were given to Bohumila Fořtová, Valérie Freimanová, Miloslav Jakob, Petr Kučera, Vladimír Ludvík, Pavel Malčík, Miroslav Tesař, Jaroslav Veselý and Tomáš Zima.

Musical entertainment was ensured by Jan Pařík conducting the quintet “Juventus”. In the end, the guests toasted to the awarded personalities and enjoyed refreshments in the historical lounges.

Enoac gains power every year, promoting the synergy between conformity assessment bodies. It is an opportunity for Cgcre to make public information on accreditation and the projects under development and, also, to receive feedback. Cgcre prepares an agenda, which also includes suggestions from its 1,500 clients. “The purpose is that all links of the chain participate proactively, strengthening the system”, states Marcos Aurélio Lima, General Coordinator for Accreditation. Three conferences were held simultaneously: one with certification bodies, another with inspection bodies and another with laboratories. During the conferences several themes were discussed such as: discussion about ISO 17065, new demands for accreditation and transition to ISO/IEC 17021:2011 (certification body area), international recognition for the activity of inspection body accreditation, presentation of the administrative rule for the monitoring of inspections in equipment and vehicles designed for the transportation of dangerous products (inspection body area) and harmonization of accreditation scopes, change in the proficiency testing policy (new revision of ILAC P9) and Brazil´s adherence to the acts of OECD (laboratory area).

Further in the agenda, were meetings of the Technical committees and presentation of the action plan prepared in the previous year. “We undertook a compromise in the meeting of 2010 and it is important to present the results”, completes Marcos Aurélio.

According to the chair of the Brazilian Inspection Body Association (Angis), Claudio Torelli, the meeting is fundamental to the technical advancement of the area. “Angis understands the need of Enoac, that's why it supports it and is one of the sponsors. Before Enoac meetings started to be held, the discussions were more market-based and, today, the improvement of the reference documents and their assessment criteria is striking. It is a natural and important evolution, with proposals of the participant bodies, seeking the understanding of what is written, of the risk analysis of the segment in the service performance. Enoac has three important pillars: seeking improvements; enhancing the credibility of issued certificates and showing that all this process is fundamental to society”, summarizes Torelli.

Masao Ito, from the Brazilian Association of Certification Bodies (Abroc) which also sponsored Enoac, stated that the meeting is a moment for interaction. “It is a moment in which we can harmonize the wishes of certification bodies and regulatory agencies, all joined by the same objective”, emphasizes Masao.

The summit of Enoac took place on Thursday, June 9^th, World Accreditation Day. This year, the commemoration accounts for the theme “relationship between the regulator and the accreditation body”, set in common consent in the General Assembly of Accreditation Forums, at the end of 2010.  For the debate, representatives of other regulatory agencies besides Inmetro were present, among them the Brazilian Sanitary Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) and the São Paulo State Environment Protection Agency (Cetesb).

To begin, Mr. João Jornada, Inmetro president, spoke about the interface between regulation and accreditation. Then, Anvisa presented a lecture about the significance of accreditation of analytical laboratories that carry out tests on products and services subjected to sanitary surveillance. In turn, Cetesb talked about the experience of the São Paulo State Environment Protection Department in laboratory accreditation. At last, Mr. Marcos Aurelio (Cgcre´s General Coordinator) presented Cgcre´s report for 2010 with activities and latest developments of the sector. There was also the delivery of certificates to accredited reference material producers closing the pilot project of accreditation in this area. As an innovation, the Brazilian National Accreditation Award has been launched, consisting of prizes for 3 categories: external assessor and expert, Cgcre´s employee and accredited CAB. The theme for the work of 2011 is “Accreditation body interaction with the regulator”. The deadline to subscribe and submit papers is September 30^th 2011 and prizes will be awarded in November 2011 during the meeting of the Accreditation Council (Conac).

For 2012, the intention is to award the prizes during the World Accreditation Day to foster the participation in the event.

EBMD (Outsourced Medical Biology Examinations) have just joined the activities accredited by Cofrac.

This activity, "which is also known under the acronym POCT (point of care testing), concerns the examinations which are carried out outside Medical Biology Laboratories (MBL), in public and private healthcare establishments and which are under the full responsibility of the laboratory", explains Pascale Liger-Garnier, accreditation manager at Cofrac's Healthcare section.

"In the context of medical biology reform in France, regulation now require MBL to be accredited for the medical biology examinations they carry out, including EBMD, making the laboratory clearly responsible for the results provided by this type of examination. In addition, it specifies that these examinations are carried out in care units, only in the context of "urgent therapeutic decisions". The changes to the regulation led to the first requests for accreditation. This activity is accredited according to the requirements of standard NF EN ISO 15189, completed by the requirements of standard NF EN ISO 22870 specific to EBMD.

In practice, these are "small" analysers which are provided to clinical services for urgent examinations that need a result quickly.

The main specific feature of EBMD lies with the fact that the result is read by a clinical doctor for a therapeutic decision to be made without a biologist validating the result first. This means that the MBL, which is responsible for the EBMD, manages and controls the whole examination process.

"Therefore, the establishments that are currently concerned and will be concerned in the coming months are essentially those which have emergency departments, such as resuscitation or obstetric care units to monitor labour", summarises Pascale Liger-Garnier.

The Saint Antoine hospital in Paris (accreditation No. 8-2542) and the Sainte Marguerite hospital in Marseille (accreditation No. 1-1739) are the first two laboratories to be accredited according to this new system.

During the assessment of the MBL in the EBMD context, several essential points are examined by the assessors, such as the designation of the multi-disciplinary examination management group responsible for the EBMD related provisions (laboratory representative, administration, clinical teams), the responsibility for managing equipment when put in place, its inspection and monitoring or even staff training. "This last point concerning training is crucial and is more difficult to control by the MBL", insists Pascale Liger-Garnier. "In fact, the staff who carry out these examinations belong to the clinical departments (interns, nurses, etc.) and are not directly attached to the laboratory. Also significant staff turn-over must be anticipated as much as possible, so that all new arrivals are well-trained and approved by the laboratory for using the equipment they will need to handle. This point is checked during the accreditation evaluation with a visit to the clinical departments concerned". During these assessments, Cofrac calls on technical assessors whose skills are recognised in this activity.

New perspectives are emerging through this new activity and due to new regulations. "We are receiving new accreditation requests in reproductive biology (biological medical procreation assistance activities) or in anatomy and pathological cytology (examinations carried out on tissue: biopsies, smear tests.)

New technical accreditation guides are being drafted to facilitate the MBL's entrance into the accreditation process for these activities and to guarantee harmonisation of technical assessors", specifies Pascale Liger-Garnier.

The Minister of Commerce Industry and Tourism, Mr Antonis Paschalides and the Permanent Secretary, Mrs Zeta Emilianidou as well as  representatives of conformity assessment bodies, competent authorities, employers, scientific and consumer associations attended the event which focused on the message of the Day: “Supporting the work of the regulators”. This was a central point in both the welcome address by the Chairman Mr Stelios Colocassides and the brief presentation by the Director Dr Kyriacos Tsimillis on recent developments in accreditation. Representatives of some of the main stakeholders namely the Cyprus Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Federation of Employers and Industrialists as well as CyprusLab and the Association of Medical Laboratories took the floor and expressed their interest in contributing further to the promotion of accreditation in Cyprus. To this end the importance of accreditation and the role of CYS-CYSAB in supporting the work of the regulators was underlined.

 All speakers referred to the new needs that arose after the Regulation (EC) no 765/2008 came into force.  The Chairman and the Director underlined the importance of a successful step made by CYS-CYSAB in May after the peer evaluation by EA. It is expected that CYS-CYSAB will soon join the Multilateral Agreement with EA. This development represents a big challenge for the Organization with increasing needs and perspectives.

 In his address to the gathering, the Minister of Commerce, Industry and Tourism confirmed the commitment of the Government of the Republic of Cyprus to provide the CYS-CYSAB with all necessary means to ensure that it will be able to meet the needs of the society.

 The programme of the event concluded with the presentation of accreditation certificates to recently accredited laboratories. The representatives of the laboratories were given the floor to make short presentations of their experience in working towards accreditation.   

 The number of attendees and the wide spectrum of their affiliations illustrated the interest of all stakeholders in joining their efforts towards a common task, namely the promotion of Quality through Accreditation.

Ms Amina Ahmed Mohammed, Director of DAC in her speech, highlighted the importance of World Accreditation Day. She said the role of accreditation has become very important for the improvement of quality and health & safety. She explained the role of DAC and its regional & international activities.

Eng Alia Ismail Head of the Inspection Bodies Accreditation Section gave a presentation on Law 2/2010 with regard to accreditation. Dr Yaser Saleh, Principal Accreditation Officer gave a presentation on the registration process according to Law 2/12010.

 Engineer Redha Hassan Salman in his speech highlighted the role of the Public Health & Safety Department as a regulator in Dubai. He appreciated the efforts of DAC as an accreditation body.

 DAC awarded appreciation certificates to members of the Advisory Technical Committee, task forces and DAC assessors as part of the celebrations.

DAC also presented certificates to regulatory departments in recognition of their cooperation regarding accreditation.

Large numbers of delegates from conformity assessment bodies and stakeholders including regulatory bodies attended the ceremony.

Eng Yousef Al Jasmi, Senior Accreditation Engineer was the moderator for the ceremony.

 DAC accredited first laboratory in Oman

 DAC accredited their first laboratory in Sultanate of Oman. Oman is a member of the Gulf Cooperation Council. In a graceful ceremony held in Muscat under the patronage of His Excellency Ahmed Bin Hassan Al Zeib, Under Secretary of the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Sultanate of Oman, Ms Amina Ahmed Mohammed Director of DAC presented the accreditation certificate to Engr Daud Bin Mohammed Al Fatisi. In her speech she hoped that accreditation would be beneficial for all stakeholders.

 DAC conducted training courses

DAC conducted training courses on measurement uncertainty and internal auditing to ISO 17020. Delegates from public & private laboratories and inspection bodies attended these training courses.

 DAC meeting with medical laboratories

 DAC arranged a meeting with medical laboratories on 17^th July 2011. A large number of representatives of medical laboratories attended the meeting. Dr Venkatesh Thuppil an expert on medical laboratory accreditation gave a presentation on ISO 15189. The meeting included a very useful session of questions from participants. Dr Mohammad Saad Principal Accreditation Officer of DAC and Dr Thuppil replied to queries from the participants.

June 6: Certification Bodies

We started our “Accreditation Week” with this subject on June 6, with the participation of more than 90 people for the systems and product certification sectors.

In the Systems Management workshop the main changes in ISO/IEC for the standards 17021 and ISO 19011, as well as the new accreditation areas, were made known.

For the Product sector, the accreditation schemes under the ISO/IEC 17067 standard and the advancements about the ISO/IEC standard were explained.

June 7: Inspection Units

The 120 attendees had the chance to learn about the experiences of the inspection units. These units have had zero nonconformities for the second occasion. These inspection units have been accredited for more than 10 years, have mature management systems, as well as having benefited from regional assessments.

The importance of calibrating measurement equipment was explained and we presented the application guides to the standard NMX-EC 17020-IMNC-2000 for different subjects.

 June 8: Laboratories

Calibration and Testing Laboratories

In a forum of more than 230 participants the updating of the assessment and accreditation procedures and the criteria for the application of the standard NMX-EC 17025-IMNC-2006 were made known, as well as the changes in the policies for proficiency testing, traceability and uncertainty of measurement.

 Clinical Laboratories

We recounted with the assistance of 50 representatives of clinical laboratories about the accreditation program for this sector in the international scene, specifically in France, which is the country with more advancement in this field.

Participants had the opportunity to learn through practical examples about advancements on validation of quality methods guides and quality control in clinical laboratories and blood banks.

Forensic Laboratories

Participants became acquainted with the success story of the first forensic laboratory accredited in Mexico and the Criminal Procedure Reform.

We highlighted the importance of guaranteeing technical competence in forensic science laboratories.

June 9: World Accreditation Day

For the conclusion of the exchange and learning works, we celebrated the “World Accreditation Day” with the presence of personalities representing the authorities in this matter, businessmen, academics, research centers and conformity assessment bodies, who endorsed their commitment to comply and enforce the standards. They were congratulated on the great achievements they have reached in these 12 years, since Entidad Mexicana de Acreditación, a.c. (ema) was founded.

Accreditation Week in numbers:

 . 720 persons participated

. 50 speakers

. 11 sponsors

Celebration

An event was also organised for the celebration of this day, representatives from the GSO member countries, governmental institutions and from private conformity assessment bodies participated. The event was also an opportunity to reward the recently trained assessors in the field of the accreditation of inspection bodies. A three day event preceeded the celebration and its main topic was ISO 17020, its requirements and the discussion of the modifications in the DIS version. 

Press

All the main media in the region were informed about the celebration, and a wide spread of information on World Accreditation Day and the importance of the accreditation for the GCC single market and for the protection of the comsumer was disseminated.

This MoU includes the development of testing requirements for performance and safety verification related to a single type, parts, and weapon system, and reliable management of testing laboratories.

Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) intends to designate KOLAS-accredited laboratories as testing laboratories in the defense industry-related field to secure credibility and safety of the test system by introducing international weapons test system from now on.

The two parties agreed to strengthen the performance and safety of relevant products and weapons system at the international level through the continuous development of assessment standards by jointly establishing and operating a Council for Developing Works of Testing & Assessment in the Defense Industry.

KOLAS and DAPA will jointly establish the systematic management system of laboratories by quickly introducing the KOLAS accreditation scheme according to the international standard (ISO/IEC 17025). This will ensure international recognition and reliability in relation to the Korean defense industry through this business partnership.

The leaders’ meeting was held on 8 June 2011, by inviting leaders from interested parties in conformity assessment fields to discuss plans for reinforcing the competence of accreditation bodies and conformity assessment bodies in Korea.

 The commemorative seminar was attended by 400 domestic experts in conformity assessment, including corporate personnel, KOLAS-accredited laboratories, interested parties, and assessors on June 9, 2011.

 An award ceremony was conducted for 3 organizations and 13 individuals who have contributed to the testing fields among KOLAS-accredited laboratories and personnel, including Korean Apparel Testing and Research Institute (KATRI) before the commemorative seminar.

 The direction and importance of Korean accreditation scheme were emphasized through presentations such as “Plans for strengthening the competitiveness in the testing & certification industry in Korea”, “Competence Improvement of ISO Management System Certification”, and “Trends in the Management of the Global Accreditation System to enhance the reliability of the local accreditation scheme”.

In line with the vision of all accreditation bodies, the Mauritius Accreditation Service (MAURITAS) is preparing for the status of signatory to the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) and International Accreditation Forum (IAF) Mutual Recognition Arrangements (MRAs).

MAURITAS has enlisted the financial assistance of the French Development Agency (AFD) under the Trade Capacity Program – “Programme de Renforcement des Capacités Commerciales (PRCC)” and the technical assistance of the International Affairs Division of the Association Française de Normalisation (AFNOR) to achieve this objective.

One of the components of the project was the organization of a half-day seminar on ‘Accreditation and International Recognition’. The seminar was held at La Petite Canelle, Domaine Les Pailles on 21 February 2011.

Several presentations were made by Mr RN Gopee, Acting Director of MAURITAS, Mrs F Nicolas, Director, International Affairs, AFNOR and Mr HCL Vialle, Consultant, AFNOR during the seminar. Forty-two (42) persons participated in the seminar.

 MAURITAS ORGANISES A TRAINING COURSE ON INTERNAL AUDIT, METHODS VALIDATION AND MEASUREMENT UNCERTAINTY

MAURITAS, under the assistance of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) organised a training course on Internal Audit, Methods Validation and Measurement Uncertainty. The training course was held at the Mauritius Standards Bureau (MSB) conference room on 9 – 13 May 2011.

 After the meeting, an official dinner for the participants was held by the national accreditation body. Some employees who worked fruitfully in conformity assessment bodies for many years  were awarded with a “Leader of the standardization and metrology field” badge, during the dinner.   

The celebration of World Accreditation Day was sponsored by the conformity assessment bodies, so we appreciate that the role of the Mongolian accreditation body is broadening constantly.

 We can trustfully say that Mongolian accreditation body will work actively towards becoming member of the ILAC MRA, PAC MLA, and IAF MLA by cooperating with the international and regional accreditation organizations.

More than 200 participants gathered for the main event organized in one of the Warsaw theatres, including present and former PCA employees, assessors and guests representing the bodies engaged in the conformity assessment system, such as the chief inspectorates: sanitary, environmental protection, veterinary and commercial quality of agriculture and food products, the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection, Polish Committee for Standardization and the Central Office of Measures. The special guest was Mr Waldemar Pawlak, Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Economy, who focused in his address on the enormous significance of accreditation in free trade of products and services on the European and international markets – a condition for an undisturbed economic development in Poland, Europe and the world.

Dr E W Roguski, PCA Director, emphasized that as regards to the number of accredited organizations, the Polish Centre for Accreditation was among the leading accreditation bodies in the European Union. He marked that the success was mainly due to the changes made to the PCA management system and appropriate work relations among the older and newly employed personnel.

He also thanked everyone for the congratulations and wishes received from all around Poland and abroad on the occasion of the PCA anniversary.

The celebrations of the World Accreditation Day were the best opportunity to premiere - for such a demanding audience of professionals who attended the gala -
a 6-minute film promoting the conformity assessment system, which had been produced on request of Polish Centre for Accreditation. Some excerpts of the film were used in the reportage transmitted in the main news broadcast of Polish Television (the film is available on the PCA website: www.pca.gov.pl).

Speaking to the participants, Mr Jamali said that "Accreditation can improve quality of products and services as per national and international laws" and most of the developed countries have made accreditation a key element of their policy making strategy and therefore it is imperative for regulatory bodies to make use of the internationally recognized accreditation services of the Pakistan National Accreditation Council (PNAC). PNAC is an MRA (Mutual Recognition Arrangement) signatory with ILAC (International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation) for overseeing compliance with the standards and technical regulations so as to fulfill the international requirements.

Stressing the importance of accreditation, Mr Jamali stated that it provides assurance and confidence that traded products and services not only conform to specifications but also meet legal and regulatory requirements. Mr Jamali further said that regulators and exporters need to find ways to use the MRA status of PNAC to avoid unnecessary multiple testing/calibration to save foreign exchange but also facilitates to enhance exports by meeting the deadlines. In his closing remarks, Mr Jamali emphasized that "I urge all the stakeholders to collaborate with PNAC in order to make Pakistan reliable and competitive in the international market.”

Federal Secretary Ministry of Science & Technology, Mr Irfan Nadeem, Acting Director General PNAC, GP Capt (R ) Engr Najamuddin, and other senior officials from public and private sectors were also present on the occasion.

Within the SADC region consisting of 15 countries, world accreditation day commemorations started in 2009 with the issuance of press releases. In 2010 apart from the press releases, radio and television interviews and conferences were held in Botswana, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Seychelles. This year, press releases on world accreditation day were widely circulated to stakeholders in all the SADC countries, radio and television interviews were held in some of the countries and conferences were held in 7 SADC countries namely Botswana, DRC, Lesotho, Seychelles, South Africa, Tanzania and Zimbabwe. Remarking about the increased world accreditation commemorations activities within the region, the SADCAS CEO Mrs Maureen P Mutasa said “We have graduated from just issuing press releases on World Accreditation day to successfully hosting many national conferences”.

In Botswana, the ISO/IEC 17025 Forum hosted a half day workshop in Gaborone on 9 June 2011 which was attended by 50 delegates and during which a SADCAS’ representative, Ms Jeanne Ranorovelo made a presentation on the “Role of SADCAS in supporting the work of regulators”. This was followed by a preliminary report on the survey of conformity bodies in Botswana, a survey undertaken by SADCAS through the network of NAFPs in all those countries that are serviced by SADCAS. The delegates were also updated on the latest developments in the establishment in Botswana of the National Testing Laboratory System whose mission is to provide access to quality testing services to industry and the public in general.

In DRC, a half day conference which was attended by 73 participants was held in Lubumbashi on 9 June 2011 to commemorate world accreditation day.  Mrs Feza Matata and Mr Viki Mbuya Kanama the National Accreditation Focal Points Officers for DRC, made presentations on the role of SADCAS in support of the work of regulators and role of accreditation in facilitating trade and regional integration within SADC.

In Lesotho, a workshop was held on 9 June 2011 during which a senior government official opened the conference emphasizing the importance of accreditation and reflected on the establishment of SADCAS as a major regional achievement in its efforts to eliminate technical barriers to not only intra regional trade but also inter regional trade. This was followed by a presentation by Mr Azael Makara the NAFP-Lesotho who laid out the foundation for the guest speaker and a representative of SADCAS Mr Cyprian Mokhoro. Mr Mokhoro is a member of the SADCAS Board of Directors and he spoke on the “Role of SADCAS in supporting the work of regulators”. The workshop which was hosted the NAFP-Lesotho was attended by more than forty delegates mainly from energy, roads, food, water regulators etc.

In Seychelles, a half day conference hosted by the NAFP – Seychelles was held to mark world accreditation day. The conference which was held on 9 June at the Standard House, in Providence , Mahe and was attended by 41 participants including Government officials,  Seychelles Bureau of Standards Board members and staff, regulators, consumer organizations  and leaders of the business community.  The conference was followed by a tour of the Seychelles Bureau of Standards laboratories by participants. A press release on world accreditation day was published in the Nation, a Seychelles daily newspaper whilst an article on the conference was subsequently published in the same newspaper on 10 June 2011.

In South Africa, the South African National Accreditation System (SANAS) hosted a conference which was attended by over 250 delegates including delegates from a number of African Accreditation bodies, who had attended a Peer Evaluation course organized by the African Accreditation Cooperation (AFRAC) and delivered by the Asia Pacific Laboratory Cooperation (APLAC) trainers Mrs Roxanne Robinson and Mr Barry Ashcroft. Mr Ron Josias, the SANAS CEO, made the welcoming remarks whilst Mr Prags Govender, the Chairman of the SANAS Board of Directors, gave an overview of accreditation in South Africa. The key note address and opening of the conference was made by the Minister of Trade and Industry, Honourable Dr Rob Davies and followed by presentations by Mrs Roxanne Robinson on the recognition of the ILAC Mutual Recognition Arrangement/IAF Multilateral Arrangement in the USA, Mrs Maureen Mutasa on the role of SADCAS in supporting the work of regulators, Ms Hanlie Badenhorst on the role of laboratories in assisting the regulators and a final presentation by Mr Tibor Szana from the Department of Labour on the benefits of accreditation in the regulatory domain. The conference ended with an assessor recognition ceremony during which SANAS assessors were recognized for their contributions to accreditation. The conference ended with a vote of thanks from Mr Mpho Phaloane senior Manager SANAS.

In Tanzania, the NAFP hosted a one day seminar to commemorate world accreditation day. The seminar which was held on 8 June 2011 at the Tanzania Bureau of Standards (TBS) headquarters in Dar es Salaam was attended by 30 stakeholders mainly from testing/calibration laboratories, certification and inspection bodies. The seminar was officially opened by Mr Charles Ekelege, the Director General of the TBS who in his remarks urged governments to use accredited conformity assessment bodies. He further encouraged conformity assessment bodies to utilize SADCAS services. This was followed by various presentations on accreditation including a paper on the role of accreditation bodies in supporting the work of regulators. Interviews were held with two of the most popular television channels in Tanzania to explain the role of accreditation in supporting the work of regulators.

In Zimbabwe, a half day world accreditation day conference was held on 10 June 2011 in Harare under the banner “Supporting the work of regulators”. The conference was attended by delegates drawn from accreditation stakeholders including regulators, conformity assessment bodies, government officials, consumers’ organization representatives, the academia and the media amongst others. The conference was opened by the Deputy Minister of Industry and Commerce, Honourable M C Bimha with presentations being made by the SADCAS CEO Mrs Maureen P Mutasa, the SADC SQAM Expert Dr Oswald Chinyamakobvu, the SADCA Committee member for Zimbabwe and SADCAS Board member, Mrs Eve Gadzikwa, the Chief Inspector of Factories, Mr J Mutswatiwa and representatives of the National Laboratory Association (NLA). Over 96 participants attended the conference which was hosted by the NADFP- Zimbabwe. Prior to the conference six press releases were placed in four weekly newspapers and two daily newspapers in order to create awareness on World Accreditation Day as well as to promote SADCAS services. All the delegates that attended the conference were each issued with commemoration regalia consisting of golf shirts and caps branded with the SADCAS trademark and bearing this year’s World Accreditation Day theme. By wearing the regalia, the delegates were in commemoration mood and became accreditation ambassadors after the conference thus spreading the message. Zimbabwe intends to roll out similar activity to the remaining nine provinces in the near future in order to increase awareness on the importance of accreditation.

Supporting the work of Regulators

TAF has been making efforts to promote the value of accreditation and the ILAC MRA for many years. Echoing the theme of 2011 World Accreditation Day, TAF is pleased to announce two recent progresses in establishing collaborations with domestic regulators.

1)     MoU signing with the New Taipei City Government

The credibility of TAF accreditation in the civil engineering testing field has been recognised by various local governments and domestic prosecutor offices. Some TAF accreditation personnel have been invited to provide consultancy in auditing or surveillance of public construction works.

To build up an information exchange mechanism and a technical cooperation platform, on 18 July 2011, the Procurement Office, New Taipei City Government signed an MoU with TAF. The MoU aims to combine the efforts of both parties to enhance the technical level and the reliability of civil engineering testing results, so as to ensure the quality of public construction works. TAF provides expertise in related technical issues and cooperates with the Procurement Office in promoting the effective management of civil engineering tasks and the value of accreditation. Where needed, TAF accreditation experts will also take part in the auditing, surveillance or unscheduled visits.

2)     Cooperation with the Bureau of Energy, Ministry of Economic Affairs

The Bureau of Energy, Ministry of Economic Affairs announced a new regulation for manufacturers of high-voltage electric power equipment under the Electricity Act in 2009, taking effect on 1 January 2012. Manufacturers of high-voltage electric power equipment, e.g. switchboards, prefabricated substations, etc., must have their testing laboratories accredited by TAF or an ILAC MRA Signatory, and this equipment must be tested in-house before being permitted into the Taiwan market. To ensure smooth implementation of this new regulation, the Bureau of Energy (BOE) and TAF started the preparation for this work and technical environment in 2008. A series of seminars and training courses for assessors and laboratories were conducted during 2009 – 2011. Representatives from BOE, TAF and TAF Assessors participated in a number of discussions and provided suggestions in management and technical issues, so as to ensure consistency in assessments. After making these efforts, the TAF assessment process is ready for providing such accreditation services to meet the requirements of the new regulation.

 World Accreditation Day Event

On World Accreditation Day, 9 June, TAF held a “Supporting the work of regulators panel discussion” in the NTUH International Convention Centre. Mr Alan Tousignant, Economic Section Chief of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), was invited to give the opening remarks. The panel discussion was composed of two sessions: the status of acceptance and use of accreditation by international regulators and domestic regulators. Dr Jay-San Chen, TAF President, and Mr Nigel Jou, TAF CEO, acted as the chairperson and moderator respectively. Twelve experts were invited to share experiences from various perspectives: Mr Perry Fung, General Manager of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council – Taiwan Branch, Mr Shyr-Cherng Wang, Director of the 5^th Division of the Bureau of Standards, Metrology and Inspection (BSMI), Mr James Lou, Deputy Director of the National Communications Commission, Mr Te-Ming Wang, Senior Consumer Protection Officer of the Consumer Protection Commission, Mr Walter Yeh, Executive Vice President of the Taiwan External Trade Development Council, and Mr Hsing Hsu, Deputy Secretary General of the Taiwan Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers’ Association, Ms Linda Chen, Secretary General of the Bureau of Energy, Mr Chuan-Wei Lin, Director of the 3^rd Division of BSMI, Ms Yu-Wen Chuang, Director of the Department of Planning, Council of Agriculture, Mr Shaw-Ying Yuan, Director of the Department of Supervision Evaluation and Dispute Resolution of EPA, Mr Sen Chen, Deputy Director of the Department of Labor Health and Safety, Council of Labor Affairs, and Dr Ho-Sheng Wu, Director of the Research and Diagnostic Center, Center for Disease Control. TAF also designed fourteen different two-metre high flyers with information on cooperative accreditation programs with various regulators or acceptance/use of accreditation in regulations. These flyers were exhibited in the venue, and TAF staff responsible for different fields provided information and answered questions on the site. Some 190 participants from regulatory and private sectors, conformity assessment bodies, associations and societies attended the event.

Training Course on RMP

TAF officially launched its accreditation service for RMP in May 2011. To enhance the comprehension of ISO Guide 34 and assist RMPs in preparing for accreditation application, TAF cordially invited Mr Wong Wang Wah from HKAS to give a 2-day lecture in Taipei on 12 – 13 July for 40 participants from potential RMPs and TAF staff. Mr Wong also shared the HKAS accreditation experiences and exchanged ideas with TAF colleagues in TAF Taipei Office on 14 July. TAF thanked Mr Wong for his contributions to TAF’s RMP accreditation service and expressed gratitude to HKAS for its kind provision of expertise.

Cross-strait PT program on LED street lighting

To accommodate the market needs of LED lighting products, TAF and CNAS organised the very first PT program on street lighting for distribution curve of luminous intensity and photometry quality. Two reference labs, the Green Energy and Environment Research Laboratories of the Industrial Technology Research Institute (Taiwan) and the National Lighting Test Centre (China) began the planning in early 2010, and the program was completed in July 2011. There were ten participating LED testing labs (five from each party) in this program. This is a successful trial for PT programs on LED products, and can serve as a reference for other PT programs on LED products in the future.