Seminar for accredited bodies

On Thursday, 25th February 2010, a one-day seminar for accredited bodies will take place at the International Congress Centre (Sava Centre, Hall 1, ground floor, Building A), 9 Milentija Popovića Street, New Belgrade, and it will start at 10 a.m.

The Accreditation Board of Serbia (ATS) is organising an annual seminar for accredited bodies  in order to introduce them to a large number of topics pertaining to technical requirements of importance to conformity assessment and accreditation, and it will gather representatives of the EC Delegation here in Serbia, EU technical experts in quality infrastructure, representatives of the accreditation bodies from the neighbouring countries (Bosnia & Herzegovina, Montenegro and FYR of Macedonia), respective ministries, companies, professional associations and consumer protection associations.

The ATS is in the process of peer evaluation which is a prerequisite for the recognition of reports and certificates of our accredited bodies. This will, without doubt, ease the movement of goods and services and economic development of our country. Seminars intended for accredited bodies and other companies have a role not only to educate and inform, but to raise public awareness of the importance of accreditation and conformity assessment in terms of competitiveness of Serbian economy, free movement of goods on the market, and increased security and safety of products, and consumer protection.

The aim of the forthcoming seminar is to point to the necessity to harmonise the legislation of the Republic of Serbia with that of the EU by presenting the new legal framework for placing products on the EU market, and to help all those participating in the establishment a modern system of quality infrastructure and internal market. Given that Serbia is making efforts to speed up the European integration process, each contribution to establishing a legal, institutional and technical framework of quality infrastructure system will lead to a desired result – to have Serbia as an active participant in trade relations with the EU and countries in our region.

In that regard, in the period between 25th February and 24th July 2010 an awareness raising campaign promoting the importance and application of accreditation and conformity assessment will be conducted in cooperation with the ATS and as part of the EU funded Project entitled “Technical Assistance to Quality Infrastructure Institutions in the Republic of Serbia”, whereas the following institutions are signatories to the Project’s Memorandum of Cooperation – Ministry of Economy and Regional Development (MERD), Serbian Chamber of Commerce (SCC) and AFNOR (Association Francaise de Normalisation) consortium. It has been envisaged that seminars/workshops will be delivered in 11 cities throughout Serbia in SCC premises and regional Chambers of Commerce. During these 25 two-day interactive seminars/workshops business community and manufacturers will have a chance to acquire new knowledge from the representatives of MERD, ATS, SCC, and other foreign experts about practical use of relevant standards in relation to directives to be soon transposed into domestic legislation. The topics are adapted to the requirements of the representatives of chambers of commerce and relate to the fields of certification, inspection, testing and respective legislation. Seminar/workshop programme, dates and venues will be posted on the ATS internet page from 15th February onward at www.ats.rs.

The first seminar in a series of seminars will be organised by the ATS and it will take place on Thursday, 25th February 2010 at the International Congress Centre (Sava Centre, Hall 1, ground floor, Building A), 9 Milentija Popovića Street, New Belgrade, at 10 a.m. The registration of participants is from 9.30 a.m. to 9.55 a.m. at the registration stand in front of Hall 1.

It was envisaged that seminar participants would be introduced to new ATS procedures, revised documents of importance to witnessing criteria and categorisation of nonconformities, new developments in the work of the ATS and other accreditation bodies from the neighbouring countries, and new MERD sub-laws arising from the Law on Technical Requirements for Products and Conformity Assessment. Representatives of the Directorate of Measures and Precious Metals will give a lecture on the subject of measurement uncertainty and traceability of measurement, while the EU experts will introduce the participants to the importance of European legislation and New Approach Directives for the removal of technical barriers to movement of goods.

Participants are invited to announce their presence to Jelica Braunović by Monday, 22nd February 2010 at the following e-mail address: jelica.braunovic@ats.rs or ATS Fax No: 011 3130374.

Contact person: Jelica Braunović, Technical Secretary, 2 Mihailo Pupin Boulevard, Phone No: 3130373, 064 8872822, Fax No: 011 3130374.

Note: announcement of presence is mandatory.

Seminar Programme “ACCREDITATION – THE PATH TO SATISFIED CONSUMERS”

09:30 – 09:55 registration of the delegates in the hall in front of Hall 1, Building A

10:00 – 10:40 Opening address and opening of the seminar,
- Dejan Krnjaić PhD, ATS Director
- Hose Bustamante, First Counsellor, Head of Section – Operations of the EC Delegation to Serbia
- Prof Slobodan Petrović PhD, MB President
- Vidosava Dzagic, Vicepresident of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce
- Jelena Popović, Assistant Minister, Ministry of Economy and Regional Development
10:40 – 11:30 Presentation of new regulations of the Ministry of Economy and Regional Development – Jelena Popović, Assistant Minister, Ministry of Economy and Regional Development
11:30 – 13:00 Review of the New and Global Approach – from the perspective of a notified body – Leon Kos, Slovenian Institute of Quality and Metrology
A new package of measures to upgrade trade in products – tasks of public administration – Irena Možek Grgurevič, Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Slovenia
13:00 – 14:00 Break
14:00 – 14:30 ATS Work Activities in 2009 – Dejan Krnjaić PhD, ATS Director
14:30 – 15:15 Presentation of the work of accreditation bodies from the neighbouring countries (Bosnia & Herzegovina, Montenegro and FYR of Macedonia)
15:15 – 16.00 Uncertainty of measurement and traceability of measurement – Dragan Nikolić and Jelena Babić, Directorate of Measures and Precious Metals 16:00 – 16:30 Break
16:30 – 17:00 New ATS procedures – witnessing criteria and categorisation of nonconformities –Natalija Jovičić Zarić MSc, ATS
17:00 – 17.45 Practical examples – Natalija Jovičić Zarić MSc, ATS
18:45 – 18.30 Discussion