ILAC Secretariat Update April 2023 International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation

ILAC Secretariat Update April 2023

Category

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 25^th 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 26^th 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.