On April 1, 2022, the IAAC General Assembly approved, via electronic vote, the associate membership application of Sociedad Internacional de Acreditación - International Accreditation Society (SIAAC) of Mexico.  SIAAC is an accreditation body, for more information see their website at https://siaac.org/

We warmly welcome SIAAC as a new member!

 

IAAC congratulates Standards Council of Canada (SCC) for achieving IAAC MLA signatory status for the subscope of Information Security Management Systems (ISMS) Certification Bodies.  

On January 21, 2022, the IAAC MLA Group agreed via electronic ballot that the SCC be accepted as an MLA signatory for the sub-scope of Information Security Management Systems (ISMS) Certification Bodies (Main scope: Level 3: ISO/IEC 17021-1, Level 4: ISO/IEC 27006, Level 5: ISO/IEC 27001).

More information about SCC's ISMS accreditation program may be found at its website https://www.scc.ca/en/accreditation

 

 

 

IAAC congratulates ema for achieving IAAC signatory status for the MLA subscope of Certification Bodies of ABMS.  On December 17, 2021, the MLA Group approved via electronic ballot that the entidad mexicana de acreditacion (ema) of Mexico, be accepted as an IAAC MLA signatory for the sub-scope of Anti-Bribery Management Systems (ABMS) Certification Bodies (Main scope: Level 3: ISO/IEC 17021-1, Level 4: ISO/IEC 17021-9, Level 5: ISO 37001).

 

Download the project brochure

Objective:

The project encourages the cooperation of regional quality infrastructure organizations, namely the Pan American Standards Commission (COPANT), the Inter-American Accreditation Cooperation (IAAC) and the Inter-American Metrology System (SIM) along with their national membersin the field of the circular economy. They will strengthen their technical competencies and in addition stakeholders of the circular economy will be sensitized on the benefits of the quality infrastructure.

Approach:

Many countries in Latin America and the Caribbean have achieved considerable success in their economic and social development in recent decades. However, economic growth has so far been associated with high social and environmental costs and caused high energy and resource consumption. This exacerbates the numerous environmental problems in the region.

In order to solve these challenges in the long term, a shift from a linear economy to a circular economy is required. Applying the circular economy concept increases the resource efficiency of economic activity through waste prevention, repair, reuse, remanufacturing and recycling, thus minimizing use of resources. For the transition towards a circular economy, supporting services of the quality infrastructure are necessary.

The contributions of the various components of the quality infrastructure - standardization, metrology, accreditation and conformity assessment - are important prerequisites to support research for new materials and products, develop innovative technologies and to determine reliably and comparably the environmental impacts of production and consumption patterns.

Sectorally, the project focuses on the promotion of value-added cycles in food, plastics and construction and aims to identify and strengthen the potential contributions of quality infrastructure within these. The regional focus will allow the experience of working from individual value cycles to be expanded.

The project is implemented with the Organization of American States (OAS) as the lead political partner and the regional quality infrastructure organizations: COPANT, IAAC and SIM which constitute the Quality Infrastructure Council of the Americas (QICA), as the technical project partners.

 

Impact:

The project seeks to strengthen the competences of the quality infrastructure, which are needed for the development of services in the field of circular economy. To this end, the cooperation and networking of the actors in the quality infrastructure and the circular economy will first be promoted and monitored.

Through events and publications like policy documents, strategies and documents from sector initiatives, the project conveys to decision-makers from politics, private sector and civil society the relevance of quality infrastructure for sustainable development.

By the end of the project, the quality infrastructure institutions should be able to support the circular economy through new or adapted contributions like tailor made consultancies, normative documents, tests, calibrations and certifications.

 

Cooperation

The project coordinates its activities closely with other donors active in the region in similar working areas.

Financing

Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), Germany Term 10/2020 until 09/2023 (3 years)

Contact

Partner Institutes OAS | César Parga

+1 202 370-5421

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COPANT | Kory Eguino

+591 2 277-4517

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IAAC | Victor Gandy

+1 336 782-3808

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SIM | Claudia Santo

+ (598) 98602396

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PTB Thomas Bollwein

+49 531 592 8272

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Congratulations to SAE of Ecuador, new IAAC signatory for the MLA subscope of Certification Bodies of ABMS and GLOBAL G.A.P.  On July 31, 2021, the MLA Group agreed via electronic ballot that the Servicio de Acreditación Ecuatoriano (SAE) of Ecuador be accepted as an MLA signatory for the sub-scope of Anti-Bribery Management Systems (ABMS) Certification Bodies (Main scope: Level 3: ISO/IEC 17021-1, Level 4: ISO/IEC 17021-9, Level 5: ISO 37001), and as a signatory for Product Certification Bodies with a subscope for GLOBAL G.A.P. (Main scope: Level 3: ISO/IEC 17065, Level 4: GLOBAL G.A.P. IFA, Level 5: GLOBAL G.A.P. CPCCs).

IAAC warmly welcomes FONDONORMA as a new IAAC Stakeholder member.  Fondo para la Normalización y Certificación de la Calidad, (FONDONORMA), is the Standardization and Certification Body of Venezuela, and is accredited by the ONAC of Colombia for QMS and EMS Certification.  FONDONORMA is also a member of COPANT, their website is https://www.fondonorma.org.ve/index.php/es/.  FONDONORMA was accepted as an IAAC Stakeholder member, via electronic ballot, as of August 2, 2021. 

Below you will find the invitation, minimum requirements, application process and remuneration, and schedule.

IAAC Call Technical Secretary

Letter of Recommendation PDF / Letter of Recommendation WORD (google drive download)

The International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) recognizes the Inter-American Accreditation Cooperation (IAAC) Multi-lateral Recognition Arrangement (MLA) for the scope of Reference Material Producers (RMP) using ISO 17034, as a result of the ILAC regional peer evaluation for this MLA scope extension which was carried out during 2019/2020.

Reference Material Producers that are accredited by signatories of the IAAC MLA for RMP may now receive international recognition of their accredited RMP programs.  This achievement is significant as regional development of reference materials programs that support the specific markets and the needs of the Americas, and will serve the process for improvement of testing, calibration, and proficiency testing services offered within the region.  It provides another platform for the support of regional growth, innovation and development.

The IAAC Chair would like to thank all parties that made this achievement possible including the member Accreditation Bodies, IAAC peer evaluators, the MLA Chair and Vice-Chair, the IAAC Executive Secretariat, and the Stakeholders.

IAAC warmly welcomes the Sistema Interamericano de Metrología (SIM) - Inter-American Metrology System, as an IAAC Associate member.  SIM is a regional metrology organization of the Americas, which includes the National Metrology Institutes of each country in the Americas.  IAAC and SIM have a long history of cooperation at the regional level, working together as partners in technical cooperation projects with the PTB of Germany and the Organization of the American States (OAS), sharing experiences in areas of common interest at the committee level; collaborating on joint capacity building activities such as training workshops for both IAAC and SIM members.  The IAAC and SIM Chairs attend and participate each other’s General Assemblies.  In 2014, IAAC, SIM and COPANT signed an MOU to create the Quality Infrastructure Council of the Americas (QICA) with the objective to promote a shared vision for mutual support in the development of standards, accreditation and scientific, industrial and legal metrology.  QICA is the contact point for cooperation actions in support of strengthening the national Quality Infrastructure in all countries of the Americas.

IAAC’s longtime and fruitful relationship with SIM has now been formalized by establishing mutual memberships.  IAAC recently became a member of SIM, and now SIM has been formally accepted as an IAAC associate member.

SIM’s website is https://sim-metrologia.org 

IAAC warmly welcomes International Accreditation Services (IAS) as its most recent IAAC full member.  IAS is an Accreditation Body of the United States of America, it is an MLA/MRA signatory of IAF, ILAC, and APAC.  IAS is a nonprofit, public-benefit corporation that has been providing accreditation services since 1975. IAS accredits a wide range of companies and organizations including governmental entities, commercial businesses, and professional associations. IAS accreditation programs are based on recognized national and international standards that ensure domestic and/or global acceptance of its accreditations.  IAS offers accreditation programs to accredit Testing and Calibration Laboratories, Inspection Bodies, Certification of Persons, Product Certification and Management Systems Certification (QMS, EMS, ISMS, EnMS, FSMS, ABMS).  IAS is based in Brea, California, their website is https://www.iasonline.org/.  IAS was accepted as an IAAC full member by the General Assembly, via electronic ballot, as of May 26, 2021.