IAF and ILAC have launched a poster contest to develop the official poster for World Accreditation Day (WAD) 2024! All interested parties are welcome to explore our theme of Accreditation: Empowering Tomorrow and Shaping the Future, with a chance of winning the first-place prize of 1,500 USD or the second- or third-place prizes of 500 USD.

This year’s WAD theme will highlight the role that accreditation can play in shaping various aspects of life, from technology to transportation, sustainability to security, and inclusivity to innovation, as digitalization, new technologies and growing sustainability concerns continue to change our world.

IAF and ILAC will explore how accreditation enables the development of innovative technologies, and how it can facilitate the integration and adoption of these technologies, particularly in industries and supply chains where precision, safety and quality are critical. We will examine the important role of accreditation in promoting trust in digital technologies, including by supporting cybersecurity and privacy. We will also highlight how accreditation supports sustainability, helping businesses and consumers make informed choices. In each of these areas, mutual recognition arrangements such as the IAF Multilateral Recognition Arrangement (MLA) and the ILAC Mutual Recognition Arrangement (MRA) play a vital role in enabling organizations to transcend geographical borders and industry boundaries.

This theme relates to many of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in particular SDG 2 (Zero Hunger), SDG 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation), SDG 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy), SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure), SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities), SDG 16 (Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions) and SDG 17 (Partnership for the Goals). 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 welcome individuals to submit up to three entries at https://bit.ly/48AgVQu by the submission deadline of 09 February 2024, 23:59 UTC. The contest rules, including instructions for how to submit entries, are available here.

Read about last year’s winner and runners-up here.

We look forward to receiving your submissions!

The Deed of Agreement between NATA and ILAC for the provision of the ILAC Secretariat services finishes on 31 December 2023. The current Secretariat team will therefore move to a transition role to support Axis Mundi Consulting the new provider of the secretariat services for ILAC. This transition phase will be in place until 31 March 2024.

In this transition role, the current Secretariat staff will move from doing the day-to-day work of running the ILAC Secretariat to providing support to the incoming Axis Mundi team as they take on this work to ensure a smooth transition for the ILAC members and liaison partners.

The Axis Mundi team will introduce themselves in early January 2024 including with their specific roles and provide the contact details for future communication. The generic email address for the new Secretariat team from 1 January 2024 will be secretariat@ilac.org

For the period 1 January to 31 March 2023, the current ilac email addresses will continue to be monitored.

We wish the members of the new Secretariat team all the very best for the future!

The signatory status of Saudi Accreditation Center (SAAC), Saudi Arabia, to the ILAC MRA has been extended to include the accreditation of Medical Testing (ISO 15189).

The full list of signatories to the ILAC MRA is available from https://ilac.org/signatory-search/ .

The signatory status of Accreditation Body of Serbia (ATS), Serbia, to the ILAC MRA has been extended to include the accreditation of Proficiency Testing Providers (ISO/IEC 17043).

The full list of signatories to the ILAC MRA is available from https://ilac.org/signatory-search/ .

We welcome Iranian Association of Clinical Laboratory Doctors (IACLD), Iran, as a Full Member of ILAC.

As IACLD is a signatory to the APAC MRA for the accreditation of medical testing laboratories using ISO 15189, IACLD has been granted signatory status to the ILAC MRA and therefore, Full membership of ILAC. 

We welcome IACLD and look forward to working with our IACLD colleagues.

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

As a result of the recent ILAC Arrangement Council ballot, the continuation of the recognition for the European co-operation for Accreditation (EA) as a recognised regional cooperation body of ILAC has been confirmed. The endorsed AMC recommendation is shown below:

The ILAC AMC recommends that the scope of recognition of the EA MLA to the ILAC MRA be:

• continued for the accreditation of calibration and testing laboratories using ISO/IEC 17025, medical testing laboratories using ISO 15189, inspection bodies using ISO/IEC 17020, proficiency testing providers using ISO/IEC 17043 and reference material producers using ISO 17034.

It is recommended that the next re-evaluation of EA is scheduled to begin no later than July 2026.

Information on the recognised regions including EA to the ILAC MRA is available from https://ilac.org/ilac-mra-and-signatories/recognised-regional-cooperation-bodies/

We look forward to continuing to work with our colleagues from EA.

The ILAC and International Bureau for Weights and Measures (BIPM) Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has recently been reaffirmed.

The MoU supports the already established and ongoing development of links between accreditation and metrology.  In addition, it recognises the need to cooperate on actions in respect of our tasks related to national and international measurement infrastructure.

Information on the BIPM and ILAC partnership, including a copy of the reaffirmed MoU, is available from here.

The meeting of the 27th ILAC General Assembly was held on the 13 and 15 of November 2023 in Montreal, Canada.   

The adopted resolutions from the ILAC 2023 General Assembly are now available here.

ILAC-P5:11/2023 – ILAC Mutual Recognition Arrangement: Scope and Obligations.
This document describes the elements of the ILAC Mutual Recognition Arrangement (hereinafter referred to as the Arrangement) for conformity assessment body accreditation covered by the Arrangement.

ILAC-P8:2023 – ILAC Mutual Recognition Arrangement (Arrangement): Supplementary Requirements for the Use of Accreditation Symbols and for Claims of Accreditation Status by Accredited Conformity Assessment Bodies.
The requirements in this document have been developed to ensure a more uniform approach to the use of accreditation symbols and for the manner in which a CAB may refer to its accreditation status and make claims in relation to the ILAC MRA. 

ILAC-R6:11/2026 – Structure of the ILAC Mutual Recognition Arrangement and Procedure for Expansion of the Scope of the ILAC Arrangement.
This document describes the structure of the ILAC Mutual Recognition Arrangement as well as the steps to be used by ILAC to consider and approve new international accreditation programs for inclusion in the ILAC Arrangement.

P5 and P8 are available here and R6 is available here.

The signatory status of Standards Council of Canada (SCC), Canada, to the ILAC MRA has been extended to include the accreditation of Proficiency Testing Providers (ISO/IEC 17043).

The full list of signatories to the ILAC MRA is available from https://ilac.org/signatory-search/ .