The Role of ILAC 2006–07

1. The Role of ILAC2006–07

2. Established in 1977 to promote communication among laboratory accreditation bodies of the world Formalized as a cooperation in 1996 with 44 bodies signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) On 2 November 2000, a mutual recognition arrangement was signed, among those members which had successfully completed a peer evaluation At the end of January 2007, there were 58 Signatories (Full Members) to the Arrangement, representing 46 economies. ILAC was incorporated in the Netherlands on 20 January 2003. Approx. 30,000 laboratories & 5,000 inspection bodies have been accredited by the 73 ILAC Full Members & Associates. What is ILAC ?International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation

3. ILAC’s Global Role • Principal international forum for: • Recognition of competent test and calibration labs world-wide through its Mutual Recognition Arrangement (MRA) • Development and appropriate harmonization of laboratory accreditation practice • Promotion of laboratory accreditation as a trade facilitation tool • Assisting with in the development of laboratory accreditation systems

4. ILAC Goals • Strengthen/deepen the existing ILAC MRA, promote the use of accredited labs & appropriately link this activity to inter-governmental trade activity • Continually promote the clear distinction between certification & accreditation to help reduce the confusion in the marketplace

5. ILAC Goals (cont’d) • Provide assistance to developing countries by providing appropriate pre-MRA support to new accreditation systems • Increase cooperation with all relevant stakeholders, i.e. labs, regulators, industry groups, standard writing bodies and governments

6. ILAC APLAC EA IAAC CAC-MAS-Q SADCA EA European Cooperation for Accreditation APLAC Asia Pacific Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation ILAC International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation IAAC Inter-American Accreditation Cooperation SADCA Southern African Development Cooperation for Accreditation CAC-MAS-Q Central Asia Cooperation Unaffiliated Bodies Peer evaluated ABs who are not geographically located in one of the established regions The International Picture

7. How is ILAC Structured? • General Assembly: highest decision making body consisting of one representative from each membership category. • General Assembly: meets once each year and these meetings are now held in conjunction with the annual meetings of the International Accreditation Forum (IAF). • All classes of membership and other interested parties (liaison organisations such as the BIPM, OIML, ISO/CASCO, IEC, UNIDO, WTO, WADA, etc) are invited to contribute to ILAC’s work.

8. How is ILAC Structured (cont’d)? • Membership Categories: Full Members (Signatories); Associates; Affiliates; Stakeholders; Regional Cooperation Bodies; National Coordination Bodies. • Currently: 58 Full Members from 46 economies, 17 Associates from 16 economies, 20 Affiliates from 20 economies, 5 Regional Cooperation Bodies, 1 National Coordination body and 23 Stakeholders. • Full Members & Associates have voting rights for all matters except admission of new Full Members, where voting is restricted to the Full Members only.

9. ILAC Organisation Chart General Assembly Arrangement Council Advisory Committees AMC Secretariat Executive Committee PT Consultative Group Finance & Audit Committee Laboratory Committee Joint Committee for Inspection Stakeholder Committee (1) JCCC Stakeholder Committee (n) Joint Development Support Committee Marketing & Communications Committee Arrangement Committee Accreditation Committee

10. MRAs Between Accreditation Bodies The Fundamental Purpose - A laboratory accredited by one partner has equivalent competence to a laboratory accredited by the other partner(s).

11. Status of ILAC MRA • 58 Full Members representing 46 economies are signatories to the ILAC Arrangement (MRA). • The MRAs of the recognised regions underpin the ILAC Arrangement (MRA). • Currently, the MRAs of 3 of the 5 Regional Cooperation Body members in ILAC are recognised by ILAC (EA, APLAC and IAAC). • Recognition of a region is achieved after successful peer evaluation by ILAC. • Each recognised region undergoes a re-evaluation by ILAC every 4 years.

12. Status of ILAC MRA (cont’d) • Signatories to the EA and APLAC MRAs, who are also members of ILAC, are entitled to become signatories (Full Members) to the ILAC Arrangement. • IAAC is currently undergoing evaluation for the purposes of recognition by ILAC. • Currently: of the 58 ILAC Full Members (signatories) - 26 are from EA, 25 from APLAC, 4 from IAAC (evaluated by ILAC), 3 from unaffiliated bodies. • Unaffiliated bodies are ABs who do not have a Regional Cooperation body in their geographical region.

13. Status of ILAC MRA (cont’d) • ILAC relies on the evaluations undertaken by the recognised regions to grant and maintain ILAC signatory status for the ILAC members in their respective regions. • ILAC itself undertakes the evaluations of the regions, the unaffiliated bodies (those ABs who do not have a region in their geographical area) and those ABs who are part of a developing region, that has not yet obtained recognition (eg SADCA and CAC-MAS-Q). • ILAC draws its peer evaluators from the regions and unaffiliated bodies.

14. In Summary: Primary Objective of the ILAC Arrangement • Eliminate testing as a Technical Barrier to Tradethrough Recognition of Competencebetween Accreditation Bodies

15. ILAC-MRA Mark

16. ILAC-MRA Mark (cont’d) • 42 ILAC Full Members have signed Licensing Agreements with ILAC, for the use of the Combined MRA Mark. • The Combined MRA Mark, is the ILAC-MRA Mark used in combination with the accreditation body’s own mark. • Once licensed, accreditation bodies can enter into a Sub-Licensing Agreement with their accredited laboratories for the use of the ILAC Laboratory Combined MRA Mark. • The ILAC Laboratory Combined MRA Mark is the ILAC-MRA Mark used in combination with the mark which an accredited lab is entitled to use.

17. ILAC Strategic and Business Plan ILAC-S3:2004

18. Aims of the Business Plan • Focus the limited volunteer resources on activities that are important for the membership at the global level • Provide ongoing & holistic information on these planned activities to allow the membership to contribute according to their abilities & interests • Provide answers to questions such as “What does ILAC provide for my membership fee?”

19. International Partnerships • ILAC has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the following organisations: • CIPM - ILAC MoU • ICSCA - ILAC MoU • IAF - ISO - ILAC MoU • UNIDO - IAF - ILAC MoU • IEC - ILAC MoU • OIML - ILAC MoU

20. International Partnerships (cont’d) • Joint BIPM/ILAC Statement on the roles of NMIs and NABs recently released. • Joint Declaration of the BIPM, OIML and ILAC promoting the existing three MRAs recently released. • Joint ISO-ILAC-IAF Communique on the alignment of ISO/IEC 17025:2005 with ISO/IEC 9001 (2000) released in mid 2005. • Agreement for Closer Cooperation was signed between ILAC and IAF in September 2005.

21. For more information ….. ILAC Secretariat Email: ilac@nata.asn.au Web: www.ilac.org