IAF ILAC 2017 Joint Annual Meetings

23 NOV 2017

(Above) IAF Chairman, Mr Xiao Jianhua, presenting the certificate to SAC Director, Ms Chang Kwei Fern, to accept SAC into IAF multilateral recognition arrangement (MLA) for ISO 14001 which was officially recognized from 27 July 2017.

The International Accreditation Forum (IAF) - International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) Joint Annual Meeting 2017 was held in Vancouver, Canada from 21 to 30 October 2017. Singapore Accreditation Council (SAC) participated as a full member of both ILAC and IAF with the aims to achieve mutual acceptance of accreditation at the international level, thus facilitating market access of Singapore goods and services to overseas markets.

Some key developments and resolutions made at the meetings are:

Expiry of ISO 9001:2008 and ISO 14001:2004 certificates: All ISO 9001:2008 and ISO 14001:2014 shall expire or be withdrawn when the three-year transition period ends on 15 September 2018. A resolution was passed at IAF that as of 15 March 2018, certification bodies must conduct all ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 initial, surveillance and recertification audits to the new versions (i.e. ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 14001:2015). Click herefor more details on the IAF Communique.

Mandatory issuance of accredited personnel certifications:
IAF accreditation body members shall have legally enforceable arrangements with their accredited certification bodies for personnel certification to ISO/IEC 17024 that prevents the certification bodies from issuing non-accredited persons certificates in scopes for which they are accredited, and shall require full implementation within 3 years from 30 October 2017.

SAC will keep accredited certification bodies informed on any IAF updates regularly. More information on the IAF resolutions can be found here.

New signatories into ILAC Mutual Recognition Arrangement:

  • Egypt (EGAC) and Botswana (SADCAS) for medical testing (ISO 15189) and inspection body (ISO/IEC 17020);
  • Ethiopia (ENAO) for testing (ISO/IEC 17025) and medical testing (ISO 15189);
  • Kenya (KENAS) for calibration and testing (ISO/IEC 17025), medical testing (ISO 15189) and inspection body (ISO/IEC 17020).

Arab Accreditation Cooperation (ARAC) was recognized as a new regional cooperation body in ILAC for the ARAC MLA for the accreditation of calibration (ISO/IEC 17025), testing (ISO/IEC 17025), medical testing (ISO 15189) and inspection (ISO/IEC 17020), and in IAF for ARAC MLA for ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 22000.

IAF database of accredited management systems certificates: A database of management system certificates provided by accredited certification bodies will be established. The database presents a unique opportunity for organisations with accredited certificates to be able to reach out to potential buyers looking for suppliers that hold authentic certificates. Accredited certification bodies and their certified clients are strongly encouraged to participate in the database once the database project is launched.

The next mid-year IAF/ILAC meeting will be held in Frankfurt, Germany from 04 to 12 April 2018 and the next Joint IAF/ILAC Annual Meetings 2018 will be held in Singapore from 22 to 31 October 2018.