IAAC meetings

 

IAAC held its General Assembly meetings in Mexico City, Mexico, in August 2019.  Over 60 representatives from 20 countries in the region participated in the week long meetings.

 

Main issues that were discussed:

IAAC position on the draft IAF MD X Criteria for the evaluation of conformity assessment schemes. The General Assembly reviewed the draft IAF MD X Criteria for the evaluation of conformity assessment schemes, and upon recommendation of the IAAC Technical Committee agrees that:

1. a) IAAC expresses its concern about changing the scope and nature of the document from that which was originally envisaged;
2. b) IAAC considers the document is only appropriate for reviewing conformity assessment schemes that may be endorsed by the IAF for reference in the IAF MLA, and should not be a mandatory document that applies at the level of Accreditation Bodies;

IAAC members are encouraged to vote in IAF against the draft document in its current form.

 

New OHSMS MLA subscope

The IAAC General Assembly launched the IAAC MLA for Occupational Health Safety Management Systems (OHSMS) Certification Bodies under ISO 45001.

IAAC is inviting members to apply for MLA scope extensions for this subscope.

 

IAAC Membership

IAAC currently has a total of 58 members, 24 of which are full members, 4 are associate members and 30 are stakeholders.  The amount of members has been stable and with no recent changes.  One CAB is currently in the process of submitting its application for Stakeholder membership in IAAC.

 

IAAC MLA Signatories

IAAC has a total of 20 MLA signatory members from 17 countries.  Even though the amount of signatories has not changed, it is worthy to note that every year there has been a steady increase in MLA scope extensions approved by the IAAC MLA Group. 

 

New IAAC MLA signatories

In August 2019, one IAAC MLA signatory extended its MLA scopes: ONAC of Colombia was accepted as an MLA signatory for Persons Certification Bodies, Proficiency Testing Providers and Medical Laboratories. 

 

IAAC MLA recognition by IAF and ILAC
IAAC is a Recognized Regional Cooperation for the main scopes of Testing (including Medical) and Calibration Laboratories; Inspection Bodies; Management Systems Certification Bodies (with sub scopes QMS, EMS, FSMS, ISMS, MDMS and EnMS), and Product Certification Bodies (with sub scope Global G.A.P).

IAAC submitted an application to ILAC to extend its MRA recognition for the scopes of Proficiency Testing Providers (PTP) and Reference Materials Producers (RMP). IAAC also submitted an application to IAF to extend its MLA recognition for the scopes of Persons Certification Bodies and Green House Gases (GHG) Validation/Verification.

During 2018 and 2019, an IAF and ILAC peer evaluation team has been carrying out the re-evaluation and MLA scope extension evaluations of IAAC.

 

The IAAC officers

The current key IAAC officers are:
Liliane Somma of OUA, Uruguay, IAAC Chair
Andrea Melo of Cgcre, Brazil, IAAC Vice-Chair
Elias Rafoul of SCC, Canada, IAAC Treasurer
Ferney Chaparro of ONAC, Colombia, as MLA Group and MLA Committee Chair
Robert Knake of A2LA, USA, as MLA Group and MLA Committee Vice-Chair, who was elected this August for a 2 year term.

 

IAAC Meetings
The next IAAC General Assembly meetings will be held in Montreal, Canada, from August 14-21, 2020.

IAAC held its Executive Committee meeting in Mexico City, Mexico, on August 13, 2019.  During its meeting, the Executive Committee reviewed the progress achieved on the 2016-2020 IAAC Strategic Plan.  A Working Group presented updates on the development of a new five-year IAAC Strategic Plan and a revised IAAC vision.  The latest IAAC internal audit findings and the corrective actions plan were reviewed.  The status of the redesign of the IAAC website with the support of SAE, Ecuador was discussed.  The 2019-2020 Training Plan presented by the Training Subcommittee was approved.  The Executive Committee noted the report provided by Maria Miranda of ONARC on the status of the Energy efficiency and renewable energy, Biodiversity and climate protection and Green Economy technical cooperation projects with PTB of Germany.

ODAC of Dominican Republic will host the next Executive Committee meeting to be held in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, from March 9-13, 2020.

 

IAAC held its beginning of the year meetings in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in March 2019.  These meetings which are shorter than the annual meetings include the Executive Committee, MLA Group, MLA Committee, Peer Evaluators Management Subcommittee, and the Stakeholders Committee. 

The IAAC Executive Committee held a half-day meeting to brainstorm ideas for a new IAAC Strategic Plan for 2020-2025. As a result of this meeting, a SWOT analysis was drafted and the discussions will continue during the next IAAC meetings.  The Executive Committee will make sure that the discussions at the regional level are in line with the discussions at the IAF and ILAC level.

 

The IAAC MLA Committee agreed on the evaluation criteria and methodologies to carry out documentary evaluations to confirm compliance with ISO/IEC 17011:2017, for those ABs that will not have an evaluation by March 2020.  A document was drafted regarding the use of IAF/ILAC A3, classification of findings, competence of personnel, evaluation of risks, and the accreditation cycle.

IAAC MLA Group meeting

IAAC has a total of 20 MLA signatory members from 17 countries.  Even though the amount of signatories has not changed, it is worthy to note that every year there has been a steady increase in MLA scope extensions approved by the IAAC MLA Group. 

 

In March 2019, four IAAC MLA signatories extended their MLA scopes:

 

ema of Mexico was accepted as an MLA signatory for Persons and Energy Management Systems Certification Bodies.  We congratulate ema for being the first IAAC MLA signatory in the region for Persons Certification.  

 

ANAB of USA was accepted as an MLA signatory for Medical Laboratories.

 

SCC of Canada was accepted as an MLA signatory for the scopes of Energy Management Systems (EnMS), Food Safety Management Systems (FSMS), and Medical Devices Management Systems (MDMS) Certification Bodies by self-declarations.

 

 

OAA of Argentina was accepted as an MLA signatory for Food Safety Management Systems (FSMS) Certification Bodies by a self-declaration.  

This year the IAF/ILAC mid-term meetings were held in the region of the Americas, in Mexico City, during the month of April 2019. 

Companies purchase lots of things. They purchase tangible goods, such as raw materials and equipment; or intangible services, such as calibration and transportation.

This Newsletter will be the last one where I am writing to you as the ILAC Chair and thus, this is my letter of goodbye to all of you in my present role.