18th Meeting of EA IS and EA SS

18th meeting of the Inspection Committee (EA SS) and Certification Committee (EA SS) of the European Cooperation for Accreditation was held in Taormina (Sicily) in the period between 7th and 9th September 2009 and was organised by the national accreditation body of Italy (ACCREDIA).

During EA IS meeting all the questions asked and the answers given in the period between 2000 and 2008 were reiterated since they were mainly related to the interpretation and clarification of certain requirements of ISO/IEC 17020, whereas conclusions related thereto were made. 

Furthermore, questions drafted by EA IS participants for this Committee meeting were discussed and they were related to the interpretation of the requirements of the reference standard, guidelines for the application thereof and application of standards in certain areas of inspection. The largest number of questions was related to the requirements pertaining to independence and impartiality of inspection bodies (inspection body types) and legal liability, and to the description of accreditation scope of inspection bodies.

During the Certification Committee meeting the following issues were discussed: cross-frontier accreditation, accreditation of certification bodies certifying management systems granted by one accreditation body but transferred to another, application of  EA-7/05 application-related problems, and certain requirements of ISO/IEC 17021 (requirements 6.2, 9.3.3, 9.4.2.2) and ISO/IEC 17024 (requirements 6.4 and 6.5.). Food certification-related work results of working groups and bodies were presented, EMS, a group in charge of drafting the document laying down codes of certification bodies certifying products.

Ljubica Živanić and Bratislav Milošević, MSc, took part in these meetings as representatives of the Accreditation Board of Serbia. Practical work experience originating from different accreditation bodies and other interested parties that was exchanged at these meetings will contribute to the development of work processes of the Accreditation Board of Serbia.