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New ILAC Secretariat Team

Introducing the new ILAC Secretariat Team

 

Michael Fraser
ILAC Secretary

Michael is based in Australia and will be fulfilling the role of ILAC Secretary.

 

 

 

 

Johanna Acuña
ILAC Arrangement Program Manager

Johanna is based in Costa Rica and will be managing all aspects of the ILAC MRA and assisting with the ILAC Mark.

 

 

 

 

Belinda Mort
ILAC Marketing and Communications Manager
Finance Administrator

Belinda is based in Australia and will be managing the ILAC Marketing and Communications Team. Belinda will be assisting Paul with aspects of the financial accounts.

 

 

 

Wanji Yang
ILAC Technical Committees Program Manager
ILAC Administrator

Wanji is based in Chinese Taipei and will be managing the ILAC Technical Committees.
She will also be assisting Michael and Johanna.

 

 

 

Rose De Rota
ILAC Administrator

Rose is based in Australia and will be primarily involved with Member Services.

 

 

 

 

Nonlanhla (Nyaki) Halimana
IAF/ILAC Joint Development Support Program Manager
ILAC Administrator

Nyaki is based in South Africa and will oversee the Joint Development Support Program. She will also assist Rose with Member Services. 

 

 

 

Paul Smith
ILAC Finance Officer

Paul is based in Australia and will be providing the financial oversight and management of the ILAC accounts.

 

 

 

 

Karla Sanchez
IAF/ILAC Social Media Coordinator

Karla is based in Mexico and will be working with the Marketing and Communications Team assisting with development of social media content.

 

 

 

Krista Eager
ILAC Marketing Coordinator

Krista is based in Canada and will be working with the Marketing and Communications Team.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Although each ILAC Secretariat Team member has a personal ilac.org email address we intend to use our primary email address for sending and receiving emails secretariat@ilac.org.

Several other email accounts have also been created and will be used for targeted communications.

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ILAC Secretariat Update October 2023

ILAC members and colleagues, we are abandoning our traditional Secretariat update covering all things ILAC for this edition of ILAC News, as it is with mixed emotions that I confirm this is the last edition of ILAC News from the current Secretariat.

 

A significant chapter in the history of ILAC comes to an end on 31 December when the contract between NATA and ILAC for the provision of Secretariat services concludes. The ILAC Secretariat has been staffed via a Deed of Agreement (DoA) with NATA since 1996 when the formal cooperation to establish ILAC was signed and even prior to this period, NATA resourced the Secretariat from the inception of ILAC as a conference in 1977.

 

Many of you will recall the key staff that have managed the ILAC Secretariat under the NATA DoA, in particular, Ann Margaret Gilmour and Alan Squirrell, who each made a significant contribution in supporting and growing the organisation from its earliest foundation.

 

On behalf of the current staff, Sharon, Hannah, Joelle, Rose, Stephanie and myself, I would like to thank all our members, liaison partners and colleagues and the IAF Secretariat for their support in progressing the work, profile and role of ILAC to become the internationally recognised organisation it is today. It has been a pleasure and privilege to work with all of you, with so many wonderful learning experiences and friendships made along the way.

 

During my time as the ILAC Secretary (2007 – 2023) I have been very fortunate to have had an exceptional team of loyal, skilled and dedicated staff that made it possible for the Secretariat to deliver the range of services that have continued to grow and expand over this period.  That is especially the case with the current team members working with me during these final months and I want to acknowledge their support, dedication and professionalism, without which it would not have been possible to maintain the required level of service.  

 

We will be actively working to support a smooth and comprehensive transition process to the new Secretariat team for the remainder of 2023 and during the first quarter of 2024.  Details of the new Secretariat will be announced by ILAC and IAF when finalised. The new Secretariat will be supporting and guiding you from 1 January 2024, and also working to prepare the foundations for a single international organisation for accreditation! We look forward to seeing the continued growth, development and acceptance of accreditation in the international arena.

 

The staff of the ILAC Secretariat send our very best wishes to all for a safe and exciting future.   

 

Thank you!

 

 

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2022 ILAC MRA report published

The 2022 ILAC MRA Report and infographic is now available to download.

 

ILAC and its accreditation body members invest significant effort and resources to maintain the integrity and consistency of the ILAC Mutual Recognition Arrangement (MRA), also known as the ILAC Arrangement, through a peer evaluation process.

 

This report provides information on the activities carried out as part of the global peer evaluation process in 2022 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).

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ILAC Secretariat Update April 2023

The ILAC MRA 

As a result of the recent ILAC Arrangement Council ballot, The Southern African Development Community Cooperation in Accreditation (SADCA) has been granted recognition as a regional cooperation body of ILAC.
 

The scope of recognition of the recognised regions to the ILAC MRA is available from   Recognised Regional Cooperation Bodies International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ilac.org)

Information on the acceptance of calibration, testing and inspection results, programs provided by PTPs and reference materials produced by RMPs via the ILAC MRA is available from  ILAC MRA and Signatories International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation.

There are currently 109 signatories to the ILAC MRA representing 116 economies. The ILAC MRA covers recognition for accreditation in the areas of calibration (ISO/IEC 17025), testing (ISO/IEC 17025), medical testing (ISO 15189), inspection (ISO/IEC 17020), proficiency testing providers (ISO/IEC 17043) and reference material producers (ISO 17034). The list of signatories to the ILAC MRA is available from the ILAC MRA Signatory Search.

The ILAC MRA Annual Report 2021 and associated infographic was published in June 2022 and is available from ILAC Promotional Brochures International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation.

The 2022 report will be published in May 2023.

Work to extend the ILAC MRA to include the accreditation of biobanks has now reached the stage where applications for recognition are being accepted. This follows the publication of the revised supporting documents as outlined in the resolution adopted during the 25th ILAC General Assembly in 2022: ILAC Resolution GA 25.09 The General Assembly endorses the recommendation of the ARC to extend the ILAC Mutual Recognition Arrangement (MRA) to include accreditation of biobanking as a Level 2 activity, to the criteria specified in the Level 3 normative document, ISO 20387. ILAC will therefore accept applications for recognition as soon as the documents within ILAC applicable to the MRA are updated to cover this new scope.

Case studies and research on the recognition of the ILAC MRA by governments and regulators are available from the Public Sector Assurance website. The website is a collaborative initiative of the INetQI members and there are over 330 case studies, 90 research papers and 60 supporting materials available to view.

The Business Benefits website a reference website designed to demonstrate the monetary value of standards, conformity assessment and accreditation for businesses. The website represents another successful collaboration of the INetQI partners with over 95 case studies categorised into 6 areas of value. All of the case studies identify a clear financial benefit. The site also includes more than 75 research papers.

 

ILAC Membership 

The ILAC membership as of 12 April 2023 is:

  • 109 Full Members (signatories to the ILAC MRA) representing 116 economies;
  • 18 Associates representing 19 economies;
  • 21 Stakeholders;
  • 6 Recognised Regional Cooperation Bodies

The ILAC membership consists of 154 organisations from 129 different economies worldwide. Over 88,000 laboratories, 13,900 inspection bodies, 604 PTP and 260 RMP are accredited by the ILAC Full Members (signatories to the ILAC MRA).The latest statistics and graphs on the number of accreditation bodies, accredited laboratories, inspection bodies, PTPs and RMPs are available from the ILAC Facts & Figures page.
 

Decision to Establish a Single International Organisation for Accreditation

Work commenced on the IAF-ILAC Single Organization Project on 1 March 2021 to establish a Single International Organisation for Accreditation in accordance with the 2019 JGA Frankfurt Resolutions. The contractor managing this process is Dr.-Ing. Thomas Facklam.
 

The contractor is currently working closely with the Joint Steering Committee on various tasks associated with this project and in 2022 both the ILAC Extraordinary GA and the IAF/ILAC JGA focused on topics associated with this project.

 

ILAC Meetings 

All ILAC meetings and joint ILAC-IAF meetings were again held virtually during 2022.

An extraordinary virtual meeting of the ILAC General Assembly (EGA) was held on 15 September to consider specific topics related to the establishment of the single international organisation for accreditation. The Joint IAF/ILAC General Assembly (JGA) was held virtually on 10 November 2022 and the 26th ILAC General Assembly was held virtually for the third year running on 15 November 2022.  The Adopted Resolutions are available to download from the ILAC website.

The IAF/ILAC mid-term meetings are being held in Belfast, Northern Ireland, 1 – 8 May 2023.  Delegates who wish to participate virtually are also able to purchase a virtual pass for these meetings. The on-site and virtual management of these meetings is being provided by Say Something Communications.

The IAF/ILAC annual meetings will be held in-person in Montréal, Canada from 6 – 15 November 2023.

In addition to the in-person meetings noted above all ILAC Committees, Working Groups and Task Forces continue to progress the items on their work plans via a combination of email and remote meetings.

Information on future meetings and events, including major regional meetings, can also be found in the ILAC Calendar.

 

ILAC Liaisons and other International Activities 

The current list of ILAC liaison activities includes:

ILAC Liaisons with ISO and ISO/CASCO Policy Committees

  • ISO-IAF-ILAC JSG (Joint Strategic Group)
  • ISO/CASCO Plenary
  • ISO/CASCO CPC (Chairman’s Policy Committee)
  • ISO/CASCO STAR (Strategic Alliance and Regulatory Group)
  • ISO/CASCO TIG (Technical Interface Group)
  • ISO/CASCO TIG -Technical Expert Group (TEG)
  • ISO TC 69/ SC6 (Application of statistical methods)
  • ISO TC 176 (Quality Management & Quality Assurance)
  • ISO TC 212 Plenary (Clinical Laboratory Testing and In-Vitro Diagnostic Systems) and WG1 (ISO 15189)
  • ISO TC 272 WGs 1-5 (Forensic Sciences)
  • ISO TC 276 WG2 (Biobanking)
  • ISO TC 334 (Reference Materials – formerly ISO/REMCO)

ILAC Liaisons with ISO/CASCO Working Groups/Task Forces

  • ISO/CASCO CPC TG Future of CASCO Toolbox
  • ISO/CASCO WG 57 Revision of ISO/IEC 17043
  • ISO/CASCO WG CASCO WG 31, Revision of ISO/IEC 17020

ILAC Liaisons with Other Organisations

  • BIPM-ILAC WG Bipartite
  • BIPM-ILAC-ISO-OIML Quadripartite
  • OIML-CS Management Committee (MC)
  • Meeting of Signatories to the Joint Statement on the digital transformation in the scientific and quality infrastructure.
  • CITAC (Cooperation on International Traceability in Analytical Chemistry)
  • EUROLAB Conference
  • IEC/IECEE International Electro-technical Commission (ILAC-IAF-IEC Steering Committee)
  • INetQI International Network on Quality Infrastructure
  • JCGM Joint Committee for Guides in Metrology Plenary and WGs 1 (GUM) and 2 (VIM)
  • JCTLM Joint Committee on Traceability in Laboratory Medicine
  • ITU International Telecommunication Union
  • OECD Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development
  • UNECE-WP6- Metrological recommendations
  • WADA World Anti-Doping Agency

 

Information on ILAC’s partnerships, including copies of communiqués, joint procedures, press releases and MoUs, is available from the ILAC Partnerships page.

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

 

ILAC Secretariat

The ILAC Secretariat staff currently includes Annette Dever, Sharon Kelly, Hannah Yeoh, Stephanie Sun (0.6 FTE), Rose De Rota (0.7 FTE), and Joelle Nicolas (0.8 FTE).

ILAC Marketing and Communications Officer, Rebecca Sheehan’s last day was Friday 17 February 2023. Rebecca has taken up a permanent role that will provide greater stability and career pathways, noting that the ILAC Secretariat, in its current form will cease operation at the end of 2023. We thank Rebecca for her contribution to both ILAC and the Joint IAF/ILAC work activities while she was working with the Secretariat, and we wish Rebecca all the best for the future.

Stephanie Sun, Joelle Nicolas, Rebecca Sheehan, Hannah Yeoh, Rose De Rota, Sharon Kelly, Annette Dever

Documents and Brochures

The following publication has been finalised and released since October 2022: 


ILAC-G24:2022 Guidelines for the determination of calibration intervals of measuring equipment

Follow @ILAC_Official on Twitter to receive the latest ILAC news, including information on meetings, events, liaison activities and new publications.

The April 2023 edition of ILAC News is available from News International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ilac.org).

Subscribe to the latest news to receive updates from ILAC members and liaisons.

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World Accreditation Day 2023

June 9th 2023 marks World Accreditation Day (#WAD2023), a global initiative established by ILAC and IAF to promote the value of accreditation.

IAF and ILAC celebrate World Accreditation Day (WAD) with our members, partners, stakeholders and users of conformity assessment. The theme for WAD 2023 is:

Accreditation: Supporting the Future of Global Trade

This theme will showcase how accreditation and accredited conformity assessment activities support the ongoing global supply chain restructuring that continues to be a source of trade normalization as organisations seek new markets and investment opportunities to build resilient and flexible supply chains. This is likely to reinforce long-term growth in multilateral and bilateral trade relationships and augment the value of the ILAC/IAF mutual recognition arrangements in promoting greater supply chain efficiency and resilience.

This year’s theme, Accreditation: Supporting the Future of Global Trade also focuses on how accreditation supports the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 9, 10, 14, and 17.

IAF and ILAC will be releasing a joint statement by the IAF and ILAC Chairs, a brochure and a video along with the already published poster for use in celebrations. In addition, a virtual event will be hosted by IAF and ILAC on 9th June. Case studies and research on benefits that accreditation can provide in support of this theme are available on the Public Sector Assurance and Business Benefits websites.

We encourage everyone to celebrate with us online using the hashtag #WAD2023, to attend our virtual event and to contact your local accreditation body for further details on local media and online seminars and programs they may be organising. A list of IAF Members is available here, and a list of ILAC Members is available here.

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New Year Message from the ILAC Chair

Happy New Year, I am looking forward to 2023 being a year of successful processes and good controls for our decisions that will benefit all ILAC members, partners and interested regulators.

In the past year, despite being a challenging year that required all of us to continue working with a new normal, including conducting our activities online, we managed to fulfill all our plans and even beyond.

The ILAC set of policy documents and internal work procedures that bind all of us as members continue to be managed and implemented in an exceptional way by the ILAC secretariat, the committee Chairs and members and the ILAC Executive.

The work of the IAF/ILAC Steering Committee continues on our mega project, one international organisation for accreditation, with the issue of stakeholder voting rights currently being considered via ballot and the tender for the Secretariat being drafted.

Applications for the recognition of the accreditation of Biobanks from the regions are now being accepted following the publication of ILAC P4, P5 and R6. This evaluation of applicant regional cooperations for this scope is the final stage in the process for extending the ILAC MRA to include the accreditation of biobanks.

ILAC and IAF reviewed and re-signed the MoU with The International Telecommunications Union (ITU), supporting and strengthening our commitment to cooperation and collaboration to the ongoing development of ITU-T’s Conformity and Interoperability (C&I) programme.

ILAC also signed the Joint Statement of Intent On the Digital Transformation in the International Scientific and Quality Infrastructure.

In 2022 we again held a competition for the design of the World Accreditation Day (WAD) poster, again took our WAD event online and saw excellent engagement and launched a joint podcast series.

Finally for 2022, the latest edition of ISO 15189 was published, so all ABs that accredit Medical Labs, now have 3-year implementation period (i.e. until Dec 2025) to ensure accredited medical laboratories comply with this latest edition of the standard.

The year ahead will be challenging and brings with it a variety of activities and face-to-face meetings following three years of on-line only meetings. 2023 will see us consider and require us to make significant decisions to maintain our standing in the world as an international accreditation organization with the tagline ‘accredited once, accept everywhere’.  In making these decisions we must maintain the trust of all our stakeholders and international organizations with whom we have mutual recognition agreements. Above all, we will continue to improve the work and cooperation between us, the members of ILAC, and those that wish to join, in a professional manner and respecting the decisions made by all members.

 Happy new year, prosperity, fulfillment, and success.

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New Episode of Accreditation Matters

IAF and ILAC have released the second episode of our new podcast, Accreditation Matters, which features discussions with international experts on important matters to the international quality infrastructure community and the way that accreditation supports regulators, global trade and consumers.

In this episode, Rebecca Sheehan of the ILAC Secretariat interviews IAF Chair Emanuele Riva (Accredia) and AFRAC Chair Ron Josias (SANAS) on the role of accreditation and accredited conformity assessment in supporting environmental, social and governance (ESG) declarations. Mr. Riva and Mr. Josias discuss topics including the importance of ESG criteria, how accreditation can combat greenwashing and support human health, international collaboration in this area, and the value of IAF CertSearch.

Listen to the episode now on Spotify, Apple Podcast, Google Podcasts or Amazon Music, or watch it on YouTube.

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Secretariat Update October 2022

World Accreditation Day (WAD)

World Accreditation Day 2022 was successfully celebrated on 9 June with the theme:

Accreditation: Sustainability in Economic Growth and the Environment

Information and materials associated with WAD are all available from the ILAC website: https://ilac.org/news-and-events/

The ILAC MRA

The ILAC MRA Annual Report 2021 and associated infographic was published in June 2022 and is available from https://ilac.org/publications-and-resources/ilac-promotional-brochures/.

Work to extend the ILAC MRA to include the accreditation of biobanks continues following the adoption of the following resolution during the 25th ILAC General Assembly in 2022: ILAC Resolution GA 25.09 The General Assembly endorses the recommendation of the ARC to extend the ILAC Mutual Recognition Arrangement (MRA) to include accreditation of biobanking as a Level 2 activity, to the criteria specified in the Level 3 normative document, ISO 20387. ILAC will therefore accept applications for recognition as soon as the documents within ILAC applicable to the MRA are updated to cover this new scope.

The relevant documents, ILAC P4, P5 and R6 have now been revised and published on the ILAC website. ILAC is therefore now able to accept applications from the regional groups for evaluation to extend their scope of recognition to the ILAC MRA to include this new activity.

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/.

There are currently 108 signatories to the ILAC MRA representing 116 economies. The ILAC MRA covers recognition for accreditation in the areas of calibration (ISO/IEC 17025), testing (ISO/IEC 17025), medical testing (ISO 15189), inspection (ISO/IEC 17020), proficiency testing providers (ISO/IEC 17043) and reference material producers (ISO 17034). The list of signatories to the ILAC MRA is available from the ILAC MRA Signatory Search.

Case studies and research on the recognition of the ILAC MRA by governments and regulators are available from the Public Sector Assurance website. The website is a collaborative initiative of the INetQI members and there are over 330 case studies, 90 research papers and 60 supporting materials available to view.

The Business Benefits website a reference website designed to demonstrate the monetary value of standards, conformity assessment and accreditation for businesses. The website represents another successful collaboration of the INetQI partners with over 95 case studies categorised into 6 areas of value. All of the case studies identify a clear financial benefit. The site also includes more than 75 research papers.

 

ILAC Membership

The ILAC membership as at 20 September 2022 is:

  • 108 Full Members (signatories to the ILAC MRA) representing 116 economies;
  • 18 Associates representing 19 economies;
  • 22 Stakeholders;
  • 6 Regional Cooperation Bodies (includes 5 Recognised Regional Cooperation Bodies).

The ILAC membership consists of 154 organisations from 129 different economies worldwide. Over 85,000 laboratories, 13,000 inspection bodies, 600 PTP and 250 RMP are accredited by the ILAC Full Members (signatories to the ILAC MRA).The latest statistics and graphs on the number of accreditation bodies, accredited laboratories, inspection bodies, PTPs and RMPs are available from the ILAC Facts & Figures page.

Decision to Establish a Single International Organisation for Accreditation

The work to establish a Single International Accreditation Organisation in accordance with the 2019 JGA Frankfurt Resolutions continues with the contractor, Dr.-Ing. Thomas Facklam continuing to work closely with the Joint Steering Committee established to oversee this project.

Most recently an Extraordinary meeting of the ILAC GA was requested by some members and held on 15 September 2022. The meeting focussed on specific topics associated with the establishment of the new single international organisation for accreditation. An update on the project was provided by the ILAC Chair and presentations on the specific topics being considered were provided by each of the Regional Cooperation Body members as well as the ILAC LC Chair representing the ILAC Stakeholder members. The meeting provided a platform for contributions from all ILAC members and IAF invited observers, with 29 in total taking the opportunity to present their views on the topics being discussed, in addition to the written comments provided via the meeting chat function.

An IAF/ILAC Joint General Assembly is scheduled for 10 November 2022, where the one organisation project will again be the focus for discussion.

ILAC Meetings

All ILAC Committees, including the Executive Committee and the Joint IAF MLA and ILAC MRA Management (JMC), Joint Marketing and Communications and Joint Development Support Committees have held virtual meetings in 2022.

The IAF/ILAC mid-term meetings were again also held virtually in April this year and included meetings of the ILAC AIC and Inspection Committees. The online platform, registration process and management of these meetings was provided by Say Something Communications.

The Joint IAF/ILAC annual meetings for 2022 that were scheduled to be held as hybrid meetings with the in-person attendance at Le Westin, Montreal, Canada from 2 – 11 November 2022 will now be held as a series of virtual meetings. The schedule and registration information for these meetings have been distributed and registration is open.

In addition to the meetings noted above all ILAC Committees, Working Groups and Task Forces are continuing to progress the items on their work plans via a combination of email and remote meetings.

Information on future meetings and events, including major regional meetings, can also be found in the ILAC Calendar.

ILAC Liaisons and other International Activities

The current list of ILAC liaison activities includes:

ILAC Liaisons with ISO and ISO/CASCO Policy Committees

  • ISO-IAF-ILAC JSG (Joint Strategic Group)
  • ISO/CASCO Plenary
  • ISO/CASCO CPC (Chairman’s Policy Committee)
  • ISO/CASCO STAR (Strategic Alliance and Regulatory Group)
  • ISO/CASCO TIG (Technical Interface Group)
  • ISO TC 69/ SC6 (Application of statistical methods)
  • ISO TC 176 (Quality Management & Quality Assurance)
  • ISO TC 212 Plenary (Clinical Laboratory Testing and In-Vitro Diagnostic Systems) and WG1 (ISO 15189 revision)
  • ISO TC 272 WGs 1-5 (Forensic Sciences)
  • ISO TC 276 WG2 (Biobanking)
  • ISO TC 334 (Reference Materials – formerly ISO/REMCO)

ILAC Liaisons with ISO/CASCO Working Groups/Task Forces

  • ISO/CASCO CPC TG Future of CASCO Toolbox
  • ISO/CASCO WG 56 Revision of Guide 60 – Code of Practice
  • ISO/CASCO WG 57 Revision of ISO/IEC 17043

ILAC Liaisons with Other Organisations

  • BIPM-ILAC WG Bipartite
  • BIPM-ILAC-ISO-OIML Quadripartite
  • OIML-CS Management Committee (MC)
  • CITAC (Cooperation on International Traceability in Analytical Chemistry)
  • EUROLAB Conference
  • IEC/IECEE International Electro-technical Commission (ILAC-IAF-IEC Steering Committee)
  • INetQI International Network on Quality Infrastructure
  • JCGM Joint Committee for Guides in Metrology Plenary and WGs 1 (GUM) and 2 (VIM)
  • JCTLM Joint Committee on Traceability in Laboratory Medicine
  • ITU International Telecommunication Union
  • OECD Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development
  • WADA World Anti-Doping Agency

A joint CIPM-ILAC Webinar titled: Digital Transformation in the context of Accreditation was held on 30 June 2022. It was aimed at accreditation body and laboratory staff and addressed topics including: the SI digital framework, digital reporting in an accreditation body, opportunities and challenges with the introduction of digital calibration certificates and a Q&A session. The video recording and related materials from this webinar are now available from the ILAC – BIPM partnership page on the website.

The International Telecommunications Union (ITU), the International Accreditation Forum (IAF) and ILAC have reviewed and re-signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in
August this year. The re-signing of the ITU-IAF-ILAC MoU continues to support and strengthen the three organizations’ commitment to cooperation and collaboration and the ongoing development of ITU-T’s Conformity and Interoperability (C&I) programme.

Information on ILAC’s partnerships, including copies of communiqués, joint procedures, press releases and MoUs, is available from the ILAC Partnerships page.

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

ILAC Secretariat

Stephanie Sun, the ILAC Project Officer returned from maternity leave on 1 August 2022 on a part-time basis.

The ILAC Secretariat staff currently includes: Annette Dever, Sharon Kelly, Hannah Yeoh, Rebecca Sheehan, Stephanie Sun (0.7 FTE), Rose De Rota (0.7 FTE), and Joelle Nicolas (0.8 FTE).

Documents and Brochures

Publications available since April 2022 include:

ILAC-P4:06/2022 ILAC Mutual Recognition Arrangement: Policy and Management

ILAC-P5:06/2022 ILAC Mutual Recognition Arrangement: Scope and Obligations

ILAC-R6:06/2022 Structure of the ILAC Mutual Recognition Agreement and Procedure for Expansion of the Scope of the ILAC Arrangement

ILAC-G19:06/2022 Modules in a Forensic Science Process

Follow @ILAC_Official on Twitter to receive the latest ILAC news, including information on meetings, events, liaison activities and new publications.

The April 2022 edition of ILAC News has been published and is available from https://ilac.org/latest_ilac_news/.

Subscribe to the latest news to receive updates from ILAC members and liaisons.

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2022 ISO Annual Meeting Virtual Session

Standards and conformity assessment provide the tools to deliver trust and confidence about the environment in which we live. But what happens when this environment changes? Accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, digitalization has fundamentally altered the way we live, work and relate to each other. Conformity assessment actors have had to develop alternative ways of working based on AI, machine learning, remote auditing, constant data exchange and much more.

For this year’s ISO’s Annual Meeting being held from 19-23 September 2022, IAF, ILAC and ISO have collaborated to organize the virtual session ‘Has Covid launched the digital transformation of conformity assessment?’. The session will be moderated by Marcus Long (Chief Executive, Independent International Organisation for Certification and IAF Conformity Assessment Body Advisory Committee Chair), with panellists including Sheronda Jeffries (Technical Leader, Cisco Systems and IAF User Advisory Committee Vice-Chair), Amina Ahmed (Arab Accreditation Cooperation Chair and Chief Executive, Emirates International Accreditation Centre), Pavel Castka (Professor, University of Canterbury) and Eve Christine Gadzikwa (Chief Executive, Southern African Development Community Accreditation Services). H.E Omar Suwaina Al Suwaidi (Under-Secretary, United Arab Emirates Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technologies) will deliver opening remarks.

The session will highlight topics such as how conformity assessment can help to enhance trust in ISO standards; how processes used during pandemic lockdowns have continued to deliver audits and assessments; how services such as accreditation, certification, testing, inspection, and validation and verification can continue to ensure trust is maintained during periods of accelerating change; key techniques and tools that will see digitalisation, data use and new technology play a more crucial role in conformity assessment; and the needs of conformity assessment users as the delivery of conformity assessment evolves.

The session will be held on 20 September from 18:00-19:00 GST (UTC+4). More information and registration are available here.

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IAF and ILAC launch podcast series

IAF and ILAC are excited to announce the launch of our new podcast, Accreditation Matters. This podcast series will feature discussions with international experts on important matters to the international quality infrastructure community and the way that accreditation supports regulators, global trade and consumers.

In our first episode, Brendon Moo of the National Association of Testing Authorities (NATA) interviews Kylie Sheehan of the Joint Accreditation System of Australia and New Zealand (JAS-ANZ), IAF MLA Management Committee Chair, and Jennifer Evans of NATA, ILAC Arrangement Management Committee Chair, on the role of accreditation and accredited conformity assessment services within the quality infrastructure community.

Ms. Evans and Ms. Sheehan highlight the importance of accreditation and the IAF Multilateral Recognition Arrangement/ILAC Mutual Recognition Arrangement, their contribution to sustainability, and the work of IAF, ILAC, NATA and JAS-ANZ. They also share their views on the IAF and ILAC project to create a single international organization for accreditation.

Listen to our first episode now on Spotify, Apple Podcast and Google Podcasts

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