ATS Became an Associate Member of the ILAC

On 17th February 2009 the Accreditation Board of Serbia (ATS) became an associate member of the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation - ILAC (Membership/Members by Category/Associates).

See a short historical background of the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation:

The International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) first started as a conference in 1977 with the aim of developing international cooperation for facilitating trade by promotion of the acceptance of accredited test and calibration results. In 1996, ILAC became a formal cooperation with a charter to establish a network of mutual recognition agreements among accreditation bodies that would fulfil this aim. The ILAC Arrangement is the culmination of 22 years of intensive work.

On 2 November 2000, 36 laboratory accreditation bodies, full members of the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC), from 28 economies worldwide signed an “arrangement” in Washington, DC to promote the acceptance of technical test and calibration data for exported goods.

The arrangement came into effect on 31 January 2001. The “ILAC Arrangement” provides significant technical underpinning to international trade. The key to the Arrangement is the developing global network of accredited testing and calibration laboratories that are assessed and recognised as being competent by ILAC Arrangement signatory accreditation bodies.

The signatories have, in turn, been peer-reviewed and shown to meet ILAC's criteria for competence. Now that the ILAC Arrangement is in place, governments can take advantage of it to further develop or enhance trade agreements. The ultimate aim is increased use and acceptance by industry as well as government of the results from accredited laboratories, including results from laboratories in other countries. In this way, the free-trade goal of  “product tested once and accepted everywhere” can be realised.