This report provides information on the activities carried out as part of the global peer evaluation process in 2019 in order to ensure that both regulators and consumers of laboratory and inspection data, as well as users of proficiency testing programs and reference materials are able to maintain confidence in the services accredited by the signatories to the ILAC Mutual Recognition Arrangement (MRA).  The ILAC MRA 2019 Annual Report and associated infographic is available here.

The ILAC Arrangement Management Committee (AMC) is responsible for monitoring the implementation of transition periods for the Level 3 standards used by the accreditation bodies under the ILAC MRA.

The members of the ILAC AMC have reviewed the reports received from the regional cooperation bodies detailing the progress of the accreditation bodies in their region in completing the transition of the accredited laboratories to ISO/IEC 17025:2017 by 30 November 2020.

Whilst progress up until March 2020, when the data was collected, was typical for this stage in the transition of such a standard, given the now global impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak and subsequent health and safety measures adopted by most economies, the members of the AMC recommend that an extension to this transition period is warranted. This will ensure all accreditation bodies and the accredited laboratories are able to achieve the remaining transitions in a robust manner.

The AMC therefore recommends that the end of the transition period adopted as part of the ILAC Resolution GA 20.15 (November 2016) be extended from 30 November 2020 to 1 June 2021 to ensure all laboratories are able to be transitioned under the restrictions imposed as a result of the global coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak.

This recommendation is currently the subject of a 30 day ILAC ballot with all eligible voting members. The outcome of the ballot and therefore the extension or otherwise of the implementation period for the transition to the 2017 version of ISO/IEC 17025 will be announced in June 2020.

RMP and the ILAC MRA

The ILAC MRA, as announced earlier this month, now includes the accreditation of reference material producers (RMP) using ISO 17034.

Since announcing this extension and the recognition of the EA MLA to the ILAC MRA covering the accreditation of RMP, there are now 8 signatories to the ILAC MRA for the accreditation of RMP using ISO 17034 namely CAI (Czech Republic), DAkkS (Germany), INAB (Ireland), RvA (The Netherlands), SANAS (South Africa), ENAC (Spain), TURKAK (Turkey) and UKAS (United Kingdom). This represents 39 reference material producers currently covered by the ILAC MRA.

The full list of signatories to the ILAC MRA is available from https://ilac.org/signatory-search/ . This directory is searchable by economy and scope of signatory status as well as the name and acronym of the accreditation bodies that are signatories to the ILAC MRA. The scope of recognition of the recognised regions to the ILAC MRA is available from https://ilac.org/ilac-mra-and-signatories/recognised-regional-cooperation-bodies/.

In addition, the ILAC brochure ‘Why become an accredited reference material producer’ has been revised and updated to reflect this extension of the ILAC MRA to include RMP and is available from https://ilac.org/publications-and-resources/ilac-promotional-brochures/.

The Center for Accreditation (O’ZAKK) is welcomed as an Associate Member of ILAC.  O’ZAKK has been an Affiliate member since 19 March 2018.

We welcome O’ZAKK as an Associate Member and look forward to continuing working with our O’ZAKK colleagues.

The ILAC MRA has now been extended to include the accreditation of reference material producers (RMP) using ISO 17034!

This extension of the ILAC MRA has been implemented as a result of the recent decision of the members of the ILAC Arrangement Council that endorsed the recommendation of the AMC to recognise the EA MLA for the accreditation of RMP. This is a result of the re-evaluation of EA that included the extension for RMP carried out in 2018/2019.

We are therefore pleased to advise in accordance with ILAC R6, that the recognition of the EA MLA to the ILAC MRA now includes the accreditation of RMP using ISO 17034.

In addition, the ILAC brochure ‘Why become an accredited reference material producer’ has been revised and updated to reflect this extension of the ILAC MRA to include RMP and is available from https://ilac.org/publications-and-resources/ilac-promotional-brochures/

The latest edition of the ILAC Newsletter, Issue 57 – April 2020, has now been published.

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

World Accreditation Day (#WAD2020) will be celebrated again this year on 9 June. This global initiative established by ILAC and IAF aims to raise awareness of the importance of accreditation.

The theme this year focuses on how accreditation improves food safety. The materials for supporting the promotion and celebration of this event including a poster, brochure, joint statement and video are now available for your use from https://ilac.org/news-and-events/world-accreditation-day-2020-2/

The signatory status of Jamaica National Agency for Accreditation (JANAAC), Jamaica, has been extended to include inspection (ISO/IEC 17020).

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

The latest editions of IAF/ILAC A1:03/2020 “IAF/ILAC MRA Multi-Lateral Mutual Recognition Arrangements (Arrangements): Requirement and Procedures for Evaluation of a Regional Group” and IAF/ILAC A3:03/2020 “IAF/ILAC MRAs: Multi-Lateral Mutual Recognition Arrangements (Arrangements): Template report for the peer evaluation of an Accreditation Body based on ISO/IEC 17011:2017″ have been published and are now available from here.

These documents are used in the evaluations of regional cooperation bodies and accreditation bodies and were revised to remove the ‘Concern’ category of finding. From the date of implementation, findings during an evaluation will be categorised as either nonconformities or comments.

The transition policy published by ILAC and IAF in October 2017 requires all accreditation bodies that are signatories to the ILAC MRA and IAF MLA to have completed the transition to the 2017 version of ISO/IEC 17011 by November 2020.

As a result of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak and the increasing restrictions on travel and mandatory quarantine periods following travel, IAF and ILAC have released a statement providing guidelines regarding the evaluation activities required to ensure all accreditation bodies will be able to achieve this transition in the remaining 7 months. The statement is available from https://ilac.org/publications-and-resources/joint-ilac-iaf-series/ and joint IAF-ILAC publications area of the IAF website

ILAC and IAF will continue to monitor the advice in relation to the outbreak of COVID-19 to assess the developments and risks and will release additional statements as required in relation to any impacts this outbreak may have on the peer evaluation system in general to ensure the integrity of the MRA and MLA processes are maintained.