The EA Multilateral Agreement Council (MAC) has just held its 48th meeting on 26-27 April 2023 in Belgrade, Serbia. 61 participants from 43 National Accreditation Bodies (NABs) and the representative of the EA Advisory Board attended the EA MAC meeting.

During this meeting, the MAC – which manages the peer-evaluation process and decides on the EA MLA signatory status of the NABs – took the followings decisions:

CYS-CYSAB, the National Accreditation Body of Cyprus, remains an EA MLA signatory in the fields of Inspection (EN ISO/IEC 17020) and Product Certification (EN ISO/IEC 17065).

LATAK, the National Accreditation Body of Latvia, remains an EA MLA signatory in the fields of Calibration (EN ISO/IEC 17025), Testing (EN ISO/IEC 17025) including Medical Examinations (EN ISO 15189), Certification of Management Systems (EN ISO/IEC 17021-1), Certification of Products (EN ISO/IEC 17065), Inspection (EN ISO/IEC 17020), Certification of Persons (EN ISO/IEC 17024), and Validation and Verification (EN ISO 14065).

 

EA MLA on Biobanking

The MAC made further steps toward the launching of the EA MLA on Biobanking and took two other decisions:

  • The MAC approved the “Procedure for launching the EA MLA for accreditation of Biobanking according to EN ISO 20387”.
  • The MAC decided to submit the following draft Resolution for approval by the General Assembly:

The General Assembly, acting upon a recommendation from Multilateral Agreement Council (MAC and with reference to EA Resolution 2022 (52) 15, approves that

  • The peer evaluations in the field of biobanking against EN ISO 20387:2018 – Biotechnology — Biobanking — General requirements for biobanking shall start from 1st June 2023 onward, according to the document Procedure for launching the EA MLA for accreditation of Biobanking according to EN ISO 20387;
  • The MLA shall come into effect provided that at least two members have been successfully peer-evaluated;
  • EA applies to ILAC to extend the scope of EA as a recognized region for the scope “Biobanking – ISO 20387”.

Moreover, the MAC concluded the project for reengineering the peer-evaluation system, one of the key actions of the EA Strategy 2025. The last documents related to the competence of evaluators and lessons learned were presented to the MAC members during the meeting.

The MAC Management Group is responsible for the effective management and harmonization of the peer evaluations and operations of the MAC, including meetings, and comprised of 12 members from AA (Austria), ACREDIA (Italy), BELAC (Belgium), COFRAC (France), DAkkS (Germany), EYSD (Greece), NA (Norway), NAB-MALTA (Malta), SA (Slovenia), SAS (Switzerland), SWEDAC (Sweden) and TURKAK (Turkiye).

The MAC re-elected the Management Group member Rolf Straub (SAS, Switzerland).