51st EA General Assembly held

The 51st session of the EA General Assembly was held from 18th to 19th May 2022, bringing together about 90 participants from 48 national accreditation bodies, as well as representatives of the European Committee, EFTA, 14 recognized stakeholders and the EA Council.

The session was held ‘’remotely’’, and we signle out the following decisions:

EA Resolution 2022 (51) 01
The General Assembly elects the following EA officers for a two-year mandate starting on 1     January 2023:

EA President:    Maureen Logghe, BELAC
EA Vice-President:    Cecilie Laake, NA

Members of the Executive Board:    Leopoldo Cortez, IPAC Roeland Nieuweboer, RvA Karine Vincent, COFRAC Jesper Hoy, DANAK

Members of the Technical Management Board (Committee/Council Chairs):

• EA Multilateral Agreement Council Chair: Maria Papatzikou, ESYD;
• EA Horizontal Harmonization Committee Chair: Gabriel Zrenner, DAkkS;
• EA Laboratory Committee Chair: Sergio Guzzi, ACCREDIA;
• EA Certification Committee Chair:Casper van Erp, RvA;
• EA Inspcetion Committee Chair:Marek Wilgos, PCA.

   
EA Resolution 2022 (51) 04
The General Assembly, acting upon the recommendation from the Executive Board, agrees that EA considers it contrary to reasonableness and fairness if any EA member does not also comply with the EU sanction regulations. EA members cannot offer accreditation services to Conformity Assessment Bodies in particular established in Russia and Belarus if these bodies are listed in the EU sanctions list. Compliance with EU sanction regulations shall be deemed as an obligation according to paragraph 5 of EA-1/17 EA Rules of Procedure. The Executive Board may suspend a member if it does not fulfil its obligations to EA.

EA Resolution 2022 (51) 12
The General Assembly, acting upon the recommendation of the Technical Management Board and based on the endorsement from the Horizontal Harmonization Committee, approves that:
“The preferred standard for accreditation of clinical pathology is EN ISO 15189. Clinical pathology in this context is understood to contain examinations of tissues or cell material for the purpose of diagnosis and eventual therapy recommendations. It also includes the examinations of the natural deceased by means of autopsies. It is not to be understood as forensic examinations or forensic autopsy. 
However, if the accredited services include further steps of diagnosis and eventual therapy recommendations, EN ISO/IEC 17020 could be considered to be also appropriate provided all the requirements of the preferred standard are used as additional requirements within the accreditation process.”

EA Resolution 2022 (51) 13
The General Assembly, acting upon recommendation from the Horizontal Harmonization Committee, agrees that the HHC starts a new work item to revise EA-1/06 EA Multilateral Agreement - Criteria for Signing - Policy and Procedures for Development according to the rationale for revision set out in Document EAGA (22)05-26.

EA Resolution 2022 (51) 15 
The General Assembly, acting upon the recommendation of the Certification Committee, agrees that EA withdraws EA-6/04 M: 2011 EA Guidelines on the Accreditation of Certification of Primary Sector Products by Means of Sampling of Sites.
 

Sincerely,
Yours ATS