Seminars in Novi Sad and Belgrade

In the period between 16th and 19th March two-day seminars were held in Novi Sad and Belgrade within the EU funded Project entitled “Technical Assistance to Quality Infrastructure Institutions in the Republic of Serbia” in cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management, and they were

part of the awareness raising campaign promoting the importance of accreditation and conformity assessment. The seminar topic related to quality infrastructure – food safety management system.

The lecturers were as follows: Vitomir Fister, EC legal expert in charge of accreditation and conformity assessment issues as part of the national CARDS 2006 programme – Technical assistance to quality infrastructure institutions in the Republic of Serbia, Vladimir Raketić, Veterinary Directorate, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management, Bratislav Milošević, Assistant Director at the Accreditation Board of Serbia; Sandra Beer Gregorc and Peter Raspor, Slovenian experts in food safety management system.

On the first day of the seminars in Novi Sad and Belgrade the following topics were presented: legal framework of quality infrastructure – free movement of goods and protection of public interest by means of technical regulations, standards, conformity assessment and accreditation; tasks of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management in the field of food safety management system and authorisation of conformity assessment bodies – current prospects and future plans; role of the Accreditation Board of Serbia in the field of conformity assessment – past experiences of the ATS in food testing and future activities, presentation of EU legal framework in the field of food safety management system – practical experiences form Slovenia; and review of good practices in the field of food safety management – experiences form Slovenia.

On the second day of the seminars that was designed as a round-table discussion on the subject of future challenges and possible answers, the representatives of producers and food testing laboratories, on one hand, and representatives of inspection bodies, ministries and Slovenian experts on the other hand had a discussion The participants showed greatest interest in transfer of practical experiences from Slovenia in terms of HACCP system implementation and technical issues in relation to interpretation and implementataion of the requirements of ISO 22000:2005.

Vitomir Fister i Vladimir Raketić, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management

Slobodan Šibalić, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management, and Bratislav Milošević, ATS

Sandra Beer Gregorc, Vladimir Raketić and Peter Raspor