Quality Infrastructure in the Western Balkans and Turkey

A seminar dedicated to the upgrade of free movement of goods on the Balkans and its harmonisation with the rules of the Common European Market was held in Brussels (head office of the European Committee for Standardization (CEN)) on 17th and 18th June as part of IPA 2008 regional project “Quality Infrastructure in the Western Balkans and Turkey”.

Seminar participants were representatives of the ministries in charge of quality infrastructure, directors of accreditation bodies and officials of the European Commission and other institutions. In addition to acquiring new knowledge about quality infrastructure and free movement of goods in the European Union, this seminar enabled exchange of experiences in the region and aimed at removing unnecessary technical barriers to trade and application of CEFTA Agreement.

During these two days a series of very interesting lectures were given along with the presentation entitled “Free Movement of Goods – Quality Infrastructure in Serbia” that was given by Miodrag Dugandžija, Head of the Department for Quality Infrastructure and Technical Regulations within the Ministry of Economy and Regional Development of the Republic of Serbia and Dejan Krnjaić PhD, Director of the Accreditation Board of Serbia.

In addition to this well received presentation, the following lectures caught the participants’ attention:

“Accreditation and Notification” – Annabel Brewka, European Commission DG Enterprise and Industry;
“Agreements between Accreditation Bodies” - Rózsa Ring, Director of the Hungarian accreditation body and member of the EA Executive Committee;
“Introduction to ACCA Agreement – Agreement on Conformity Assessment and Acceptance of Industrial Products” - Paul de Lusignan, DG Trade, European Commission;
“Role of the Regional Cooperation Council in Strengthening Regional Cooperation in South Eater Europe”- Lidija Topić, RCC.

The seminar was well organised and chaired by David Norris, Team Leader of the IPA 2008 Regional Quality Infrastructure Project, while this seminar was an opportunity for the participants to exchange opinions and experiences with Silvia Vaccaro, CEN, and Outi Pala, DG Enterprise and Industry.

Dejan Krnjaić PhD, ATS, Miodrag Dugandžija, MoERD, Silvia Vaccaro, CEN, Outi Pala, DG Enterprise and Industry, David Norris, Project Team Leader

Dejan Krnjaić PhD, ATS, and Miodrag Dugandžija, MoERD