Lecture at the Faculty of Technical Sciences in Novi Sad

On Tuesday, 16th November 2010, prof. dr Miroslav Vesković, Rector of the University of Novi Sad, invited Dejan Krnjaić PhD, Director of the Accreditation Board of Serbia, and Aleksandar Ivić, Chairman of the Management Board of the Institute for Standardization of Serbia, to give lectures at the state room of the Faculty of Technical Sciences on the subject of ...

importance and role of accreditation and certification at international level and in the Republic of Serbia.

The event were organised with the aim of introducing young generations of future experts and engineers to the quality infrastructure system in Serbia and worldwide, mode of operation of the internal market and legislation governing the said issue, principles of the World Trade Organization and importance of standardisation, technical legislation, conformity assessment and accreditation so that free movement of goods, people and services could be ensured and competitiveness of Serbian economy increased.

Mr Krnjaić explained to the present students and fellow professors that conformity of products, process and services with the requirements of regulations, standards and contractual technical specifications must be proved since it stands as a prerequisite for attainment of competitiveness on the European and world market. Therefore, observance of standards enables safety of products and free movement on the market, protection of human health, consumer protection, environmental protection and other fields of public interest. In addition, he reiterated that it was of extreme importance for this process to use services of competent and equipped laboratories, inspection and certification bodies, whereby trust in testing, inspection and certification could be ensured.

While explaining the status of the Accreditation Board of Serbia, Mr Krnjaić emphasised its role when it came to confirmation and monitoring of competence of conformity assessment bodies. He highlighted that it was of extreme importance for the ATS to be an impartial and independent institution that should be subjected to assessment and monitoring by international and regional organisations for accreditation (peer evaluation). “All the said elements contribute to the building of uniform world network of accreditation bodies and attainment of high level of trust of all participants on the global market”, said the ATS Director.

Mr Krnjaić explained to the present participants that it was important to have a uniform approach when determining competence of conformity assessment bodies (by applying ISO/IEC 17011) so that countries all over the world could conclude international agreements on the basis of assessment and recognition of the accreditation system. “This will decrease the number of unnecessary checks of products in international trade and create conditions for free movement of people, goods, services and capital”, he emphasised. Furthermore, the aim of the ATS was to sign international agreements within the European Cooperation for Accreditation that would ensure the recognition of services provided by the national accredited CABs, while Serbia would become an active participant in trade with the EU and countries in the region. This would be a huge step in the establishment of modern and harmonised system of quality infrastructure and internal market.

During the lecture the emphasis was on international standards applied when confirming competence, on international agreements ensuring recognition and acceptance of reports and certificates issued by accredited CABs, and basic principles of harmonisation of European legislation and current legislation defining a legal framework of EU quality infrastructure. National legislation was presented since it provides the basis for the performance of accreditation activities and definition of work of the national accreditation body, and technical regulations requesting accreditation of CABs.

Representatives of the Accreditation Board of Serbia will, with the aim of promoting importance of accreditation, be willing to take part in lectures intended for students from other faculties as was done for the students of the Faculty of Organisational Sciences, University of Belgrade.

prof. dr Miroslav Vesković

Aleksandar Ivić

 
Dejan Krnjaić PhD and prof. dr Miroslav Vesković