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[28 February 2024] – The International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC), International Accreditation Forum (IAF), and International Organization of Legal Metrology (OIML) are pleased to announce the renewal of their tripartite Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), which was first signed on 28 October 2007. The latest version, signed on 08 February 2024, marks over 16 years of formalized cooperation between the three organizations, and re-confirms their commitment to close collaboration.
Areas of collaboration include:
“I’m excited to announce the continuation of this partnership, which underscores our pivotal role of accreditation and legal metrology in facilitating trade, and providing confidence in conformity assessment results,” said Emanuele Riva, IAF Chair. “I look forward to continuing our collaboration as IAF and ILAC further evolve.”
Etty Feller, ILAC Chair, noted that “ILAC, IAF and OIML have maintained a strong relationship for many years, demonstrating the importance of cooperation between our organizations. I am delighted to formalize our continued cooperation with the renewed MoU.”
“I am pleased to see the renewal of the Memorandum of Understanding between ILAC, IAF, and OIML, marking over 16 years of fruitful collaboration,”said Dr Bobjoseph Mathew, CIML President. “This emphasises our joint commitment to enhancing the integrity of measurements and fostering consumer protection, industry standards, and global trade. The continued partnership highlights the vital role of accreditation and legal metrology in ensuring compliance and trust among trading partners. I look forward to further strengthening our cooperation, for the benefit of all those involved.”
The signatory status of Ethiopia Accreditation Service (EAS), Ethiopia, to the ILAC MRA has been extended to include the accreditation of Calibration (ISO/IEC 170259).
The full list of signatories to the ILAC MRA is available from https://ilac.org/signatory-search/ .
IAF and ILAC have released a new episode of their podcast, Accreditation Matters, which features discussions with international experts on matters of importance to the international quality infrastructure community. Accreditation Matters highlights the way that accreditation supports industry, regulators, global trade, consumers, and the drive towards sustainability.
‘The Importance of Accreditation for the Private Sector’ is the second episode in IAF and ILAC’s new sub-series on the role of accreditation in the food industry. Listen to it on Spotify, Apple Podcast, Google Podcasts and Amazon Music, or watch it on YouTube.
In this episode, IAF WG Food Co-Convener Colin Christmas (EAGLE Certification Group, IQNET representative) leads a discussion with LeAnn Chuboff (Vice President of Technical Affairs, SQF), Chryssa Dimitriadis (Director of IFS Standard Management, IFS), Aldin Hilbrands (CEO, Foundation FSSC), Quincy Lissaur (Executive Director, SSAFE), Amanda McCarthy (Business Director, BRCGS), and Mark Overland (industry representative, formerly at Cargill). The guests highlight main conformity assessment schemes and standards, and discuss the key role of accreditation in the production of safe food and assuring consumers that products meet dietary and sustainability claims.
IAF and ILAC have released a new episode of their podcast, Accreditation Matters, which features discussions with international experts on important matters to the international quality infrastructure community and the way that accreditation supports industry, regulators, global trade, consumers, and the drive towards sustainability.
‘The Role of Accreditation in the Food Sector’ is the first episode of a mini-series that will examine the importance of accreditation and accredited conformity assessment in the food industry. The sub-series will highlight topics such as the role of accreditation in ensuring food safety, supporting sustainability, and confirming regulatory compliance.
In this episode, IAF WG Food Co-Convener Colin Christmas (EAGLE Certification Group, IQNET Member) leads a discussion with IAF WG Food Co-Convener Wolfram Hartmann (DAkkS), IAF MLA Committee Chair Kylie Sheehan (JASANZ), Vani Bhambri Arora (UAF), and Skip Greenaway (EAGLE Certification Group). Guests highlight the importance of IAF and ILAC, types of conformity assessment relating to the food industry, main standards and schemes, and the process used for endorsement of schemes under the IAF Multilateral Recognition Arrangement (MLA).
Listen to the episode now on Spotify, Apple Podcast, Google Podcasts or Amazon Music, or watch it on YouTube.
The International Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (IFCC) is a worldwide organisation for clinical chemistry and laboratory medicine. It has a range of roles that include: global standard setting in collaboration with other international organisations; supporting its members through scientific and educational endeavour; and providing a series of congresses, conferences and focussed meetings, in order for laboratory medicine specialists ot meet and present original findings and best practice.
We are pleased to announce a joint IFCC – ILAC webinar “Quality System in Labs and Accreditation – Challenges of the new ISO 15189:2022”. The aim of the webinar is to share knowledge on the importance of accreditation in the medical field.
The webinar will show how the harmonized implementation of management systems according to ISO 15189 in medical laboratories, improves the validity of clinical results essential for patient care. It will also describe the ILAC role in this process.
The Webinar will take place on Tuesday 19 March 2024 from 13:00 to 14:30 (UTC+01:00). A link and login details will be posted on this website as soon as they are available.
ILAC P9:01/2024 – ILAC Policy for Proficiency Testing and/or Interlaboratory comparisons other than Proficiency Testing
This document sets out the policy for accreditation bodies on the use of proficiency testing activities in the accreditation process.
ILAC G18:01/2024 – Guideline for describing Scopes of Accreditation
The purpose of this publication is to provide guidance to accreditation bodies in describing scopes of accreditation in order to allow an effective and harmonised application among ILAC MRA signatories in relation to the relevant International Standards. One of the key roles of an accreditation body is to ensure (to an adequate degree of confidence) that the conformity assessment body has the competence to perform all of the services defined in the scope of accreditation. The description and assessment of the scope of accreditation therefore represents the core of the accreditation process.
P9 is available here and G18 is available here.
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.
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!
Today is Zero Discrimination Day!