New Appointments and Re-elections in the IAAC Executive Committee

Key elections to strengthen Inter-American cooperation in accreditation

During the 32nd IAAC General Assembly held in Medellín, Colombia, on August 23, 2024, the Executive Committee of the Inter-American Accreditation Cooperation (IAAC) has announced the results of the recent elections and re-elections for several key positions. With the goal of continuing to advance regional integration and cooperation in the field of accreditation, a new group of leaders has been elected, and some positions have been confirmed through a re-election process.

New appointments to the Executive Committee:

Among the newly elected members of the IAAC Executive Committee, the following appointments stand out:

• Warren Merkel (ANAB, USA) as Vice-Chair.
• Carlos Echeverría (SAE, Ecuador) as Chair of the Management Committee.
• Alejandra Avelar (OSA, El Salvador) as Vice-Chair of the Management Committee.
• Eduardo Ceballos (INN, Chile) as Chair of the Technical Committee.
• Alba Cabrera (ONA, Paraguay) as Vice-Chair of the Technical Committee.
• Mirtha Cuevas (ONA, Paraguay) as Vice-Chair of the Training Subcommittee.
• Patricia Aguilar (INACAL, Peru) as Vice-Chair of the Certification Bodies Subcommittee.

Re-elections in the Executive Committee: 

In addition to the new appointments, several positions have been renewed through re-election, acknowledging the excellent performance of their current leaders: 

• Andrea Melo (CGRCE, Brazil) as Chair of the Executive Committee.
• Rhonda Banks (ANAB, USA) as IAAC Treasurer.
• Paola Marsico (OAA, Argentina) as Chair of the MLA Committee.
• Mirtha Leiva (ONA, Paraguay) as Chair of the Promotions Subcommittee.
• Verónica Ruano (SAE, Ecuador) as Vice-Chair of the Promotions Subcommittee.
• Rita Cinca (OAA, Argentina) as Chair of the Certification Bodies Subcommittee.

Commitment to accreditation excellence 

These leaders will play a crucial role in the continuous improvement of accreditation processes across Latin America and North America, facilitating the harmonization of standards and promoting transparency and trust among institutions.

The IAAC remains committed to strengthening accreditation systems in the region, ensuring that its members continue to cooperate effectively in promoting quality and technical competence among evaluating bodies.

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Medellín, Colombia – August 23, 2024. 

During the 32nd General Assembly of the Inter-American Accreditation Cooperation (IAAC), significant updates to the bylaws were approved, and a reclassification of memberships was carried out. These updates, approved by the Executive Committee on August 22, aim to improve IAAC’s internal structure, align the organization more closely with international standards, and ensure greater operational efficiency.

Bylaws Update

One of the main topics of the assembly was the update of IAAC’s statutes. These modifications aim to provide the organization with greater flexibility in its processes, allowing it to adapt to the changes and challenges within the accreditation environment. The update was well received by members, who expressed their commitment to the continuous strengthening of the IAAC.

Membership Reclassification

The reclassification of membership categories was another key highlight of the assembly. This new classification is designed to ensure a clearer alignment of members according to their roles and contributions to IAAC. 

• Full Members: This category corresponds to what was previously known as Signatories. It includes Accreditation Bodies (ABs) with their respective recognitions and certificates, reaffirming their full participation and recognition within IAAC.

• Associate Members: This category remains unchanged. These members continue to actively participate in IAAC’s activities, with voting rights, although they do not hold formal accreditation recognitions.

• Stakeholder Members: This category also remains unchanged, including organizations and entities that, while not accreditation bodies, have a legitimate interest in conformity assessment and quality processes.

Suspended Memberships

During the same session, the IAAC Executive Committee decided to suspend the following memberships as part of the review and reclassification, due to non-compliance with certain requirements. These suspensions were made during the August 22, 2024 session (EC/2024/57): 

Full Members:

• ONARC, Cuba

Stakeholder Members:

• Instituto Tecnológico Metropolitano (ITM) - Colombia 
• ACCM América, S. de R.L. de C.V. - México
• Litoral Laboratorios Industriales (LLI)
• Centro Toxicológico S.A.C. (CETOX) - Perú 
• Laboratorio Químico, Industrial y Agrícola S.A. de C.V. (LAQUIMIA)

Impact of the Reclassification and Next Steps

With this new membership structure, IAAC reinforces its commitment to transparency, rigor, and quality in accreditation processes across the region. The suspension of some memberships will remain in effect until the affected organizations can comply with the established requirements.

The changes approved during the 32nd General Assembly will allow IAAC to continue leading accreditation efforts in Latin America and the Caribbean, promoting regional integration and ensuring that accreditation bodies maintain the highest international standards.

 

 

The IAAC General Assembly Grants Voting Rights to Stakeholder Members

 

During the XXXI IAAC General Assembly held in Manaus, Brazil, on September 1, 2023, the IAAC full members made an historic decision, by unanimously approving the right to vote for IAAC Stakeholder members. This key achievement places IAAC at the forefront of the international accreditation community, as the first regional Cooperation to grant Stakeholders voting rights, and will significantly contribute to the development of Accreditation and Accredited Conformity Assessment in the Americas region.

This decision shows the level of openness and maturity of IAAC to foster transparency, inclusiveness, and the participation of all its members. By involving Stakeholders in decisions with an impact on the region, IAAC is more inclusive and benefits from a wide range of perspectives to continue promoting accreditation as a valuable tool to facilitate trade and for the public benefit.  Regulators and governments use the results of accreditation to provide services that enable an unpolluted environment, safe food, clean water, energy, and healthcare services.

IAAC Stakeholder members include accredited conformity assessment bodies, associations of accredited conformity assessment bodies, and other organizations interested in conformity assessment.  The Stakeholders have a Committee that meets twice a year and has 2 representatives who participate in the Executive Committee meetings.

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IAAC HISTORY

 

The Inter-American accreditation cooperation has played a fundamental role in the field of accreditation in the Americas.

Throughout the following document, we will explore the historical milestones that have paved the way for IAAC, and the significant achievements that have contributed to improving accreditation and cooperation in the Americas. From its early beginnings to the most recent developments.

 

IAF Fact Sheet

 

The document provides an overview of regulatory frameworks and the importance of accreditation in ensuring the correct application of standards while highlighting the need for regulators and specifiers to include specific requirements for accreditation when drafting regulations or specifications. It emphasizes the importance of accreditation in regulatory and business contexts and provides resources for further information and examples of its application, the use of ISO/IEC standards for accreditation, and the necessity for conformity assessment bodies (CABs) to be accredited by recognized bodies. Additionally, it mentions the significance of being an IAF MLA signatory, indicating periodic peer evaluation and compliance with ISO/IEC 17011 and IAF requirements.

 

You can download the Fact Sheen at the following link

Download Fact Sheet

 

 

ILAC  Fact Sheet

 

The document provides guidance on accurately specifying accredited services from external testing and calibration laboratories and inspection bodies, covered by the ILAC Arrangement (MRA). It also mentions the importance of accreditation in ensuring competence and reliability in data and reports provided by these service providers. It highlights the need for accreditation of some ISO norms for testing and calibration laboratories, medical laboratories, and inspection bodies. The document will provide specific requirements for specifying accredited services and remark on the importance of ILAC MRA signatory status for accreditation bodies, ensuring conformity assessment services are accredited by competent bodies.

 

You can download the Fact Sheen at the following link

Download Fact Sheet

 

June 7, 2023

 

Representatives from PAQI (Pan African Quality Infrastructure) and QICA (Quality Infrastructure Council of the Americas) held their first exchange and collaboration meeting on June 7, 2023. The meeting, facilitated and moderated by experts from PTB was attended by the presidents and secretaries of various regional standardization, accreditation, and metrology bodies from both regions.

During the meeting, after formally introducing the Pan-American and Pan-African organizations, a brainstorming session took place on topics of common interest. Some notable areas of discussion included strategies for creating awareness among stakeholders and decision-makers, sharing best practices for implementation within the organizations' secretariats, promoting quality infrastructure to government authorities, organizing joint workshops to exchange best practices and experiences in specific areas such as digital transformation, circular economy, global recognition of conformity assessment results, and strategic plans on common issues.

This initial encounter between the regional organizations sets the stage for fruitful collaboration and exchange in the future.

 

 

About PAQI

The Pan-African Quality Infrastructure PAQI was created to strengthen the regional and global competitiveness of Africa’s goods and services and contribute towards an improved quality of life for the African people through prudent use of standards, measurements, conformity assessment, and accreditation. It was officially inaugurated on 30th August 2013 by the Director for Trade and Industry, African Union Commission, where members comprising of, the African Accreditation Cooperation (AFRAC), the Intra- Africa Metrology System (AFRIMETS), the African Electrotechnical Standardisation Commission (AFSEC) and the African Organisation for Standardisation (ARSO) have formalized their cooperation as members of the Pan African Quality Infrastructure (PAQI) by signing a Memorandum of Understanding.

 

About QICA

The Quality Infrastructure Council of the Americas (QICA), comprises the three independent regional organizations involved in quality infrastructure in America: The Pan-American Standards Commission (COPANT), the Inter-American Metrology System (SIM), and the Inter-American Accreditation Cooperation (IAAC). QICA is a platform to develop joint projects, information sharing, and cross-functional training and development that, by acting collaboratively, exceeds the abilities of any single organization acting alone.

 

IC+EC Article - QICA

 

In October 2022, the Quality Infrastructure Council of the Americas (QICA), published a study on the experiences and research on the interrelation of Quality Infrastructure and the Circular Economy, from its fundamental concepts to its application. The elements that make up the Quality Infrastructure such as metrology, standardization, accreditation, and conformity assessment are mentioned since they are essential to achieve a circular economy that provides confidence to the industry and the consumer. On the QICA website, you can find the link to download the publication.

 

Download the document

Are you a technical expert?
Look at the opportunities that the different IAAC member organizations have for you

IAAC member accreditation bodies use assessors and technical experts to conduct assessments of conformity assessment bodies that wish to be accredited in different scopes.

Here you can consult the applications of the accreditation bodies with the description of the technical expert requested including the experience and technical knowledge required.

You can send your data and ask questions directly to the contact person.

 

Publication date	Accreditation body	Contact	Description of the requested technical expert
16-10-2023	Organismo Nacional de Acreditación de Colombia (ONAC)	Carlos Ruiz Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.	Experience in positive reference serum for the detection of antibodies against Brucella Abortus
28-07-2023	Ecuadorian Accreditation Service (SAE), Ecuador	Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.	2 years of experience in the field: Clinical Investigation, divided into Start-up phases, Regulatory Affairs, Clinical operation, Post-trial support, and Quality assurance.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ABOUT ISO / IEC 17020

An ILAC FAQ Working Group has published a list of Frequently Asked Questions and answers on the implementation of specific clauses of ISO / IEC 17020. The Spanish translation was carried out by the IAAC Executive Secretariat.

The FAQs are for the use of ILAC, regional cooperations, accreditation bodies, and peer evaluators. They are offered as a tool to help the understanding and application of ISO / IEC 17020, to achieve the equivalence in the results of peer evaluations based on ISO / IEC 17020. It is important to note that the answers represent the point of view of the members of an ILAC FAQ Working Group and are offered as a guide based on the experience of the members.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT ISO / IEC 17020 - (ENGLISH)

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT ISO / IEC 17020 - (SPANISH TRANSLATION)

The list of questions is not exhaustive, if your accreditation body would like to ask a specific question, you can send them to the IAAC Secretariat (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) and we will send them to the Working Group for its consideration. Each question has a publication date that could be updated accordingly, new questions will also be added to the ILAC website and translated into Spanish by the IAAC Executive Secretariat.

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Twitter: IAAC (@IAAC_Official)

 

On April 10, 2023, a virtual workshop for new IAAC peer evaluators was held, lasting almost two weeks, the workshop would successfully end on April 20, 2023.

The workshop consisted of two hours per day to train 36 applicant peer evaluators from several countries of the region with experience in a wide variety of MLA scopes.

During the workshop, the implementation of the ISO/IEC 17011 standard and the mandatory IAAC documents for peer evaluations were analyzed to harmonize criteria and promote good evaluation practices. Case studies based on specific experiences were also analyzed.

To successfully conclude the workshop, the participants were evaluated and passed an exam to be qualified as trainee peer evaluators. Trainees will be invited to participate in future IAAC peer evaluations in the region.

The strength of the MLA is based on rigorous peer evaluations among signatory accreditation bodies to confirm their compliance with international accreditation standards and requirements.

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