World Accreditation Day (WAD)
World Accreditation Day will be celebrated on 9 June with the theme:
Accreditation: Sustainability in Economic Growth and the Environment
This theme focuses on how accreditation supports many of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) including 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15.
The poster for #WAD2022 is available from https://ilac.org/news-and-events/world-accreditation-day-2022/ and congratulations are extended to Punyasorn Lumjuan who created this design as part of the competition run by ILAC and IAF earlier this year.
Social media cards for the different SDGs addressed in this year’s theme are also available from the members area of the website for use by members in promoting #WAD2022.
In the near future the Joint Statement from the ILAC and IAF Chairs will also be issued as well as a brochure and video to promote the event.
Follow ILAC and IAF on Twitter for more information about accreditation supporting the implementation of the SDGs in the period leading up to WAD.
The ILAC MRA
Updating of the ILAC documents, in particular ILAC P4, P5 and R6 is progressing well as part of the implementation of ILAC Resolution GA 25.09 to extend the ILAC MRA to include the accreditation of biobanks. The activity will be included in the MRA as a Level 2 activity using, ISO 20387: Biobanking – General requirements for biobanking as the Level 3 normative document.
There are currently 104 signatories to the ILAC MRA representing 105 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 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/.
The ILAC MRA Annual Report 2021 and associated infographic will be published next month and will be available from https://ilac.org/publications-and-resources/ilac-promotional-brochures/.
Case studies and research on the recognition of the ILAC MRA by governments and regulators are available from the Public Sector Assurance website. This website a collaborative initiative of the INetQI members is currently being updated with a significant number of new case studies collected in support of the WAD 2022 theme – Accreditation: Sustainability in Economic Growth and the Environment.
The Business Benefits website, also another successful collaboration of the InetQI partners, is a reference website designed to demonstrate the monetary value of standards, conformity assessment and accreditation for businesses.
ILAC Membership
The ILAC membership as at 7 April 2022 is:
The ILAC membership consists of 151 organisations from 129 different economies worldwide. Over 81,700 laboratories, 12,200 inspection bodies, 500 PTP and 200 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
ILAC Meetings
The ILAC-IAF meetings including all committees and working groups continue to be held on-line.
The April 2022 mid-term meetings have been scheduled as a virtual series of meetings and registration is currently open for these meetings that will be held over the next two weeks. Some Committees and working groups that organise and manage their own on-line meetings have already met earlier this month including the Joint ILAC and IAF Executive Committees (JEC) where the key topics discussed included progress on the Single Organisation Project and future joint meetings.
The Joint IAF/ILAC annual meetings in 2022 are however scheduled to be held in person at Le Westin, Montreal, Canada from 2 – 11 November 2022.
Information on future meetings and events, including major regional meetings, can also be found in the ILAC Calendar.
ILAC Liaisons and other International Activities
ILAC carries out a number of regular liaison activities with our international partners, participating in both the routine meetings (currently on-line) that underpin these relationships as well as any relevant ad hoc events that are scheduled throughout the year. 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
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 is currently on maternity leave until July 2022.
The ILAC Secretariat staff currently includes: Annette Dever, Sharon Kelly, Hannah Yeoh, Rebecca Sheehan, Rose De Rota (0.7 FTE), Joelle Nicolas (0.8 FTE) and Stephanie Sun (maternity leave July 2021- August 2022).