Meeting of representatives of regional accreditation bodies held

A joint meeting of representatives of the regional accreditation bodies (ABs) of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BATA), Macedonia (IARM) and Serbia (ATS) was held in the premises of the Accreditation Body of Serbia (ATS) on Thursday, March 1, 2018, within the framework of the implementation of bilateral agreements on cooperation of ABs from the region.

The meeting was attended by: Željko Medak, Director of BATA, Trpe Ristoski, PhD, Director of IARM, prof. dr Aco Janićijević, Acting Director of ATS and Jasna Stojanović, Deputy Director of ATS.

A joint meeting was organized in continuation of traditional cooperation among the ABs in the region, signatories of bilateral cooperation agreements. The signed agreements relate to the activities of mutual exchange of information and documentation, the organisation of joint seminars, the organisation of joint training, the exchange of assessors, the mutual notification of accredited conformity assessment bodies on the possibilities for participation in inter-laboratory comparisons carried out in one of the countries-signatories to the agreement. The signed agreements stipulate that at least once a year the programmes of cooperation with concrete projects are defined and agreed upon.

In accordance with the signed agreements, in 2017, ABs used, according to their needs, assessors and technical experts from the Register of other ABs signatories to the agreement (exchange of assessors and technical experts) when assessing the CABs from their country. It was agreed to establish a List of exchanged assessors so that the ABs could monitor the availability of the assessors.

The participants of the meeting agreed that this kind of cooperation between the national ABs in the region is a good example of regional cooperation between the countries, and that it can serve as an example for other state bodies in achieving regional cooperation.

The participants concluded that:

1. the cooperation between ABs signatories to the agreement takes place at a high, partner and collegial level,
2. all the reasons for signing the agreements are still present, especially nowadays due to current European integration of all countries whose ABs are signatories to the bilateral agreements on cooperation,
3. it is necessary to intensify and deepen the cooperation in the following period, and to launch a joint initiative at the regional level in order to fully harmonise the practices and experiences of the ABs, in accordance with the requirements of international agreements,
4. bearing in mind that since December last year, there have been two significant tasks ahead of ABs related to the transition to ISO/IEC 17011: 2017 and ISO/IEC 17025: 2017, it was agreed that AB representatives attend trainings for AB employees in accordance with ISO/IEC 17011 : 2017, organised in the framework of the joint project of USAID and the Government of Sweden aimed at the development of the agricultural sector in Bosnia and Herzegovina, following a kind invitation from the host-BATA, from March 26 to March 27, 2018, in Sarajevo.
5. When organizing new training for employees and assessors, ABs will inform and invite each other, if the form of the training allows it.

 

Prof. dr Aco Janićijević, v.d. direktora ATS-a  i Jasna Stojanović , zamenik direktora ATS-a na sastanku sa Željkom Medakom, direktorom BATA-e i dr Trpetom Ristoskim, direktor IARM-a