34th meeting of the EA General Assembly
International activities
34th meeting of the General Assembly of the European co-operation for Accreditation (EA GA) was held in the period between 19th and 20th November in the Hague, the Netherlands.
The most important resolutions that were adopted are as follows:
• EA GA agreed that the Executive Committee should start a new work item to revise EA-1/17 – EA Rules of Procedure in order to align EA-1/17 with EA-0/00 concerning the possible establishment of Management Groups in Committees/Council and with EA-1/14
• EA GA, acting upon the recommendation from the Executive Committee, appointed Natalija Jovičić Zarić, the current Laboratory Committee Vice Chair, to be the acting LC Chair until the next elections of the Executive Committee which would take place in May 2015. Natalija Jovičić Zarić became de facto a member of the EA Executive Committee
• EA GA, acting upon the recommendation from the Executive Committee, approved the revised EA Plan 2014-2017 and revised EA Work Programme for 2014 and 2015, and the revised Activity-based budget 2014 and 2015
• EA GA endorsed the decision of the Executive Committee to offer EA Recognised Stakeholder status to the European Electrical Products Certification Association (EEPCA) and the International Certification Network (IQNet), and to enter into an agreement with EEPCA in accordance with EA-1/15: EA Policy for Relations with Stakeholders
• EA GA Assembly noted IAF Resolution 2014-17 for consideration and further action by the MLA Council as relevant given that the General Assembly resolved to extend the scope of the IAF MLA to include the accreditation of GHG Validation and Verification Bodies, noting that the extension of the MLA would be part of the IAF MLA based on the Main scope, ISO 14065; and ILAC Resolution 18.16 confirming that the General Assembly endorsed the recommendation to extend the ILAC Mutual Recognition Arrangement (MRA) to include accreditation of proficiency testing providers and therefore accept applications after the appropriate peer evaluation documents within ILAC had been updated to cover this new scope
• EA GA adopted the new versions of: IAF/ILAC A1:02/2014 IAF/ILAC Multi-Lateral Mutual Recognition Arrangements (Arrangements): Requirements and Procedures for Evaluation of a Regional Group and IAF/ILAC A2:02/2014 IAF/ILAC Multi-Lateral Mutual Recognition Arrangements (Arrangements): Requirements and Procedures for Evaluation of a Single Accreditation Body
• EA GA, acting upon recommendation of the Executive Committee, decided to withdraw EA-2/17 M rev01, whereas the General Assembly decided that EA-2/17 would be published as an EA informative document and forwarded to the Project Team “Accreditation for Notification package”. The General Assembly, acting upon recommendation from the Inspection Committee, endorsed the withdrawal of EA-5/03 M:2008 - Guidance for the implementation of ISO/IEC 17020 crime scene investigation. The European Network of Forensic Science Institutes (ENFSI) will be informed about the decision of EA General Assembly. Moreover, the General Assembly, acting upon recommendation from the Inspection Committee, adopted ILAC G19: 08/2014 - Modules in a Forensic Science Process as an informative document for all EA Members
• EA GA approved the revised Work Programme of the Certification Committee for 2015, and acting upon recommendation from the Certification Committee, adopted: IAF MD 13:2014 - Knowledge Requirements for Accreditation Body Personnel for Information Security Management Systems (ISO/IEC 27001); IAF MD 14:2014 - Application of ISO/IEC 17011 in Greenhouse Gas Validation and Verification (ISO 14065:2013); IAF MD 15:2014 - IAF Mandatory Document for the Collection of Data to Provide Indicators of Management System Certification Bodies' Performance; and IAF MD 16:2014 - Application of ISO/IEC 17011 for the Accreditation of Food Safety Management Systems (FSMS) Certification Bodies as mandatory documents for all EA Members
• EA GA acting upon recommendation from the Certification Committee, adopted the transition periods for the following standards that were endorsed as normative documents:
- ISO 14001: 2015: Environmental Management Systems – Requirements with guidance for use - the transition period of ISO 14001: 2015 will be three years from the date of publication
- ISO/IEC 17021-1:2015: Conformity Assessment – Requirements for Bodies Providing Audit and Certification of Management Systems - the transition period for the implementation of ISO/IEC 17021-1:2015 would be two years from the date of publication
- ISO 50001: Energy management systems - Requirements with guidance for use and ISO 50003: Energy management systems -- Requirements for bodies providing audit and certification of energy management systems - the implementation period for ISO 50003:2014 will be three years from the date of publication (14th October 2014)
• EA GA, acting upon recommendation from the Certification Committee, adopted the ETSI / EA Recommendations regarding Preparation for Audit under EU Regulation (EU) No 910/2014 Article 20.1
• EA GA approved the revised Terms of Reference of the Laboratory Committee
• EA GA adopted ILAC-P9:06/2014 - ILAC Policy for Participation in Proficiency Testing Activities
• EA GA agreed that the EA Communications and Publications Committee (CPC) would prepare a new work item to develop the EA intranet to enable blogging and sharing news among members given it is a useful EA information exchange tool.
Milica Lukešević, ATS Acting Director, and Jasna Stojanović, ATS Assistant Director of International Cooperation, attended the 34th EA GA meeting on behalf of ATS.