Many of the accreditation bodies that are members of ILAC https://ilac.org/ilac-membership/members-by-economy/ are now offering accreditation to biobanking facilities using the dedicated standard: ISO 20387 General requirements for biobanking that was published in 2018. This standard is applicable to facilities involved in the biobanking of biological materials and addresses both the technical competence and management system requirements for these facilities. Accreditation helps in demonstrating the reliability of banked materials and their associated data that is essential to underpinning confidence in their use. The recently published ILAC brochure – ISO 20387: Accreditation for Biobanking Facilities available from here provides information on the accreditation process and advantages of accreditation in this field.

In addition, ILAC is currently in the process of extending the ILAC MRA https://ilac.org/ilac-mra-and-signatories/ to include the global recognition of the accredited biobanking facilities. Additional information on this recognition will be made available throughout 2021.

The virtual meeting of the 24th ILAC General Assembly was held on the 22nd of October 2020.

The adopted resolutions from the ILAC 2020 General Assembly are now available here.

BIPM and ILAC are hosting a free Webinar titled: Mining KCDB 2.0 in the Context of Accreditation on 21 January 2021.

This Webinar is aimed at accreditation body and laboratory staff and will address topics including: assuring quality and access to the data in the BIPM KCDB 2.0; an overview of BIPM and ILAC publications addressing calibration and traceability and a Q&A session.

Full details including the links for free registration are available from https://ilac.org/about-ilac/partnerships/international-partners/bipm/

The signatory status of Perry Johnson Laboratory Accreditation, Inc (PJLA), United States of America, has been extended to include RMP (ISO 17034).

The full list of signatories to the ILAC MRA is available here.

The latest edition of the ILAC Newsletter, Issue 58 – October 2020, has now been published.

The newsletter provides international, regional and national updates on accreditation and conformity assessment from ILAC members and stakeholders, as well as the ILAC Chair and Secretariat.

Organismo Dominicano de Acreditación (ODAC) is now a Full Member of ILAC. 

ODAC become a signatory to the ILAC MRA for testing and calibration (ISO/IEC 17025) and inspection (ISO/IEC 17020).  ODAC originally joined ILAC as an Associate Member in 2018, and we are now pleased to welcome ODAC as a Full Member of ILAC.

The full list of signatories to the ILAC MRA is available here.

The latest version of ILAC P14:09/2020 ILAC Policy for Measurement Uncertainty in Calibration has been published and is available from https://ilac.org/publications-and-resources/ilac-policy-series/

This document sets out the requirements and guidelines for the estimation and statement of uncertainty in calibration. This latest revision reflects the 2017 versions of ISO/IEC 17011 and ISO/IEC 17025. The policy continues to be based on the Guide to Uncertainty in Measurement (GUM) and retains the common understanding of the term CMC from the joint declaration issued by the BIPM and ILAC https://ilac.org/about-ilac/partnerships/international-partners/bipm/ 

The implementation date for this 09/2020 version of ILAC P14 is March 2021.

The signatory status of The Bureau of Laboratory Quality Standards, Department of Medical Sciences, Ministry of Public Health (BLQS-DMSc), Thailand, has been extended to include RMP (ISO 17034).

The full list of signatories to the ILAC MRA is available here.

The signatory status of Coordenação Geral de Acreditação General Coordination for Accreditation (CGCRE), Brazil, has been extended to include PTP (ISO/IEC 17043).

The full list of signatories to the ILAC MRA is available here.

Interested in supporting the development of the next phase of the global accreditation framework? IAF and ILAC are seeking proposals from experienced individuals or groups of individuals that hold the required attributes to implement the next stage of this key project to establish a single international organisation for accreditation. Please refer to the background information and tender document available from https://ilac.org/about-ilac/partnerships/international-partners/iaf/