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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:
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
ILAC Liaisons with ISO/CASCO Working Groups/Task Forces
ILAC Liaisons with Other Organisations
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/.
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