In October, IAS participated in the Joint International Accreditation Forum (IAF) and International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) meetings in Shanghai, China. The joint meeting was hosted by the China National Accreditation Service for Conformity Assessment (CNAS) and was attended by representatives of the world's leading organizations involved in the accreditation of laboratories, inspection agencies, certification programs and quality management systems.
IAF is an association of accreditation bodies and other interested parties whose objective is to facilitate trade and commerce among global economies. In many countries, including the U.S., accreditation is increasingly being used by regulators and the market as an impartial, independent and transparent means of verifying the competence of conformity assessment bodies. The multilateral recognition arrangement (MLA) managed by IAF has been an important factor in establishing the credibility and competence of accreditation bodies. IAS joined IAF in 2010 and is an active participate in IAF administrative and technical committees. IAS is currently in the process of becoming a signatory to the IAF MLA.
The International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) first started as a conference in 1977 with the goal of developing international cooperation for facilitating trade by promotion of the acceptance of accredited test and calibration results. In 1996, ILAC became a formal cooperation with a charter to establish a network of mutual recognition arrangements among accreditation bodies that would fulfill this aim. IAS is a long-time member of ILAC and signatory to the ILAC MLA. Accreditation by an ILAC MRA signatory is the highest level of recognition of a laboratories competence to conduct testing within a defined scope. IAS staff actively participates in ILAC technical and administrative committees.
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The proceedings of the meeting included presentations concerning the status of activities from the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), the International Organization for Legal Metrology (OIML), the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), and the International Telecommunications Union (ITU).
Resolutions passed by the General Assembly included the transition of responsibility for inspections from a joint IAF/ILAC program to sole administration by ILAC. This change moves the administrative responsibility for the inspection MRA to ILAC in order to take advantage of the alignment of inspection and testing accreditation requirements. |
