36th meeting of the EA General Assembly
International activities
36th meeting of the General Assembly of the European co-operation for Accreditation (EA GA) was held in the period between 26th and 27th November 2015 in Budapest, Hungary. The meeting was hosted by the Hungarian Accreditation Board (NAT).
The most important resolutions that were adopted are as follows:
- The General Assembly approves the following IAF/ILAC resolutions adopted at their General Assembly meetings in Milan in November 2015:
• IAF Resolution 2015-12 – Transitional Arrangement for ISO/IEC 27006:2015 - The General Assembly, acting on the recommendation of the Technical Committee, resolved that the transition period for ISO/IEC 27006:2015 Information technology - Security techniques - Requirements for bodies providing audit and certification of information security management systems will be two years from the date of publication of the standard, i.e. 30 September 2017.
• IAF Resolution 2015–13 – Transitional Arrangement for the Revision of ISO 13485:2003 - The General Assembly, acting on the recommendation of the Technical Committee, resolved that the transition period for the next revision of ISO 13485:2003 Medical devices - Quality management systems - Requirements for regulatory purposes will be three years from the date of publication of the revised standard.
• IAF Resolution 2015-14 – Non-Accredited Certification Where the MS CB is Accredited for the Same Scope - The General Assembly, acting on the recommendation of the Technical Committee, resolved that IAF Accreditation Body members shall have legally enforceable arrangements with their accredited CABs that prevents the CAB from issuing non-accredited management systems certificates in scopes for which they are accredited. The General Assembly further agreed that the transition period will be one year from the date of endorsement.
• IAF Resolution 2015–15 – Maintenance of IAF Technical Committee Documents - The General Assembly, acting on the recommendation of the Technical Committee, resolved that references to ISO/IEC 17021 in IAF documents shall be understood to refer to ISO/IEC 17021-1:2015 in relation to CABs that have completed the transition and after the transition period. However ABs and CABs will need to take account of the changes in ISO/IEC 17021-1 when using IAF documents which may not be revised until after the transition period to reference ISO/IEC 17021-1.
- The General Assembly, acting upon recommendation from the Executive Committee, approved the current AfN listing of preferred Harmonised Standards, as the EA technical position for use in discussions with the European Commission and the National Authorities regarding appropriate standards for Accreditation for Notification. It is also agreed that the context and use of the listing within EA processes would be further discussed and developed by the EA Executive Committee (EA Resolution 2015 (36) 05).
- The General Assembly, acting upon recommendation from the Executive Committee, approved the EA Work Programme for 2016 (Document EA Work Programme 2016), endorsed the revised activity-based budget for 2015 and revised EA activity-based budget for 2016 (EA Resolution 2015 (36) 03, EA Resolution 2015 (36) 08 and EA Resolution 2015 (36) 09)
- The General Assembly agreed that the Executive Committee should start a new work item to revise the EA Articles of Association (AoA) (EA Resolution 2015 (36) 04)
- The General Assembly mandated the Executive Committee to finalize and sign the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between EA and the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) (EA Resolution 2015 (36) 06)
- The EA GA mandates the EX to take the necessary actions regarding the development of the Hungarian Accreditation Body (EA Resolution 2015 (36) 07)
- The General Assembly agreed that EA should apply to IAF to extend the scope of EA as a recognized region for the main scope “Greenhouse Gas Validation and Verification – ISO 14065” and asks for the necessary peer evaluation of EA by IAF (EA Resolution 2015 (36) 10)
- The General Assembly, acting upon recommendation from the Executive Committee, adopts ILAC-R7:05/2015 Rules for the Use of the ILAC MRA Mark as a mandatory document for all EA members being ILAC MRA signatories (EA Resolution 2015 (36) 11)
- The General Assembly, acting upon recommendation of the Horizontal Harmonisation Committee, agreed that the EA HHC should start a new work item to revise EA-1/22 M 2014: EA Procedure and Criteria for the Evaluation of Conformity Assessment Schemes by EA Accreditation Body Members (EA Resolution 2015 (36) 12)
- The General Assembly, acting upon recommendation from the Horizontal Harmonisation Committee, adopted IAF/ILAC-A5:11/2013 IAF/ILAC Multi-Lateral Mutual Recognition Arrangements (Arrangements): Application of ISO/IEC 17011:2004 (EA Resolution 2015 (36) 13)
- The General Assembly, acting upon recommendation from the Executive Committee, decided to mandate the HHC to start the revision of §7.3.3 a) of EA-1/06: EA Multilateral Agreement. Criteria for Signing. Policy and Procedures for Development to align it with the outcome of the revision of EA 1/22 (EA Resolution 2015 (36) 14)
- The General Assembly, acting upon recommendation from the Communications and Publications Committee, decided that the EA Search Facility should be closed down as of 1st December 2015 (EA Resolution 2015 (36) 15)
- The General Assembly, acting on the recommendation from the Communications and Publications Committee, agreed that the development of a blogging tool should be done on the EA public website instead of the EA intranet (EA Resolution 2015 (36) 16)
- The General Assembly, acting upon recommendation from the Certification Committee, agreed that the EA CC should start a new work item to revise EA-7/04 M 2007: Legal Compliance as a part of accredited ISO 14001: 2004 certification following the publication of revised ISO 14001:2015 and ISO/IEC 17021-1:2015. The old version will remain until end of the transition period (EA Resolution 2015 (36) 17)
- The General Assembly, acting upon recommendation from the Certification Committee, agreed that the EA CC should start a new work item to supplement EA-1/22 M 2014: EA Procedure and Criteria for the Evaluation of Conformity Assessment Schemes by EA Accreditation Body Members with guidance for choice between ISO/IEC 17021 and ISO/IEC 17065 as the standard to be used for accreditation (EA Resolution 2015 (36) 18)
- The General Assembly, acting upon recommendation from the Certification Committee, adopted IAF MD5: 2015 – Determination of Audit Time of Quality and Environmental Management Systems as a mandatory document for all EA members (EA Resolution 2015 (36) 19).