9th meeting of the EA HHC

9th meeting of the EA Horizontal Harmonization Committee (EA HHC) was held in Brussels, Belgium, in the period between 19th and 20th March 2013.

 

 

The meeting included several key issues relating to the following:
- harmonised application of ISO/IEC 17011 and Regulation (EC) No 765/2008;
- accreditation of notified bodies and harmonised application of the document entitled EA 2/17;
- sector specific schemes, and
- EA HHC documents.

The issue pertaining to harmonised application of ISO/IEC 17011 and Regulation (EC) No 765/2008 was discussed to include several aspects: principles of multi site accreditation and adoption of a common position of the EA members that will be provided through an Annex to the document entitled EA 2/13; assessment, cl. 7.11 of ISO/IEC 17011 in accordance with the explanation given in the ILAC ARC Group Guidance on how to assess the requirement on "Proven Stability"; sampling procedures and policies in case of conformity assessment activities when performing CAB witnessing carried out by accreditation bodies; uniform way of describing the scope of accreditation of notified bodies.

When it comes to accreditation of notified bodies and harmonised application of the document entitled EA 2/17, the EA HHC document entitled “Accreditation as a tool for notification” was adopted. The said document describes basic advantages of the use of accreditation as a prerequisite for notification. The work on the document regarding the selection of different types of conformity assessment bodies for different New Approach modules and the use of "1+" Approach continued. A draft version of the EC document entitled “Blue Guide” was presented and it is expected that the said document will be adopted by the end of 2013.

The proposed new approach to reviewing sector specific schemes was accepted in the new edition of the document entitled EA 1/22, EA Criteria and Evaluation of Conformity Assessment Schemes by EA Members the revision of which will be intensively made by the working group.

Furthermore, activities related to the changes to the document entitled EA 1/06, the EA Multilateral Agreement and Annexes to the document entitled EA 2/15, EA Requirements for the Accreditation of Flexible Scopes in the field of laboratory accreditation were presented.

Natalija Jovičić Zarić attended the meeting on behalf of ATS.