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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 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.
ILAC continues to monitor advice to assess the developments and risks following the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The situation has led to safety concerns and travel restrictions in some economies that may affect accredited conformity assessment activities.
Accreditation bodies may be considering and/or implementing alternative arrangements to conduct assessments such conducting assessments remotely or rescheduling activities if necessary. These arrangements where required are being put in place to ensure the health and safety of accreditation body staff, assessment team members and laboratory and inspection body staff, whilst not compromising the integrity of the accreditation process. Details of specific actions that may be required by an accreditation body to comply with the advice from the government authorities will be released as and when required within each economy. The contact details for the accreditation bodies that are signatories to the ILAC MRA are available from https://ilac.org/signatory-search/. This directory is searchable by economy.
In relation to the transition of accreditation bodies to ISO/IEC 17011:2017 a further joint statement from IAF and ILAC will be released later this week.
With regard to the transition of laboratories to ISO/IEC 17025:2017 a further statement will be released in mid-April following the receipt and review of the scheduled transition progress reports from the recognised regions later this month.
The following brochures have been revised “IAF/ILAC B7:03/2020 – Accreditation: Supporting the Delivery of Health and Social Care”, “IAF/ILAC B10:03/2020 – Accreditation: Delivering a safer world” and “IAF/ILAC B11:03/2020 – Accreditation: Adding Value to Supply Chains” and are available for your use from here.