The EA Certification Committee (EA CC) held its 32th meeting on 13 and 14 September 2016 in Tallinn, Estonia, where it was hosted by EAK, the Estonian national accreditation body.

Picture: View of Tallinn by K. Wieland Müller (pixelio.de).

The EA CC is a lively and busy committee whose members take part in constructive discussions on a range of certification related topics. The discussions are led by the EACC Chair, Kevin Belson from the UK NAB (UKAS). The meeting in Tallinn focused on the following:

Publication of the EACC Frequently Asked Questions

The EA Executive Committee approved to make EACC Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) available on the EA website provided that the Committee defines clear rules on what is published and that no one can misinterpret the answers only given as EACC recommendations. In Tallinn, the Chair presented the rules for EACC members to submit questions to the committee and the rules for answering and publishing FAQs. He stressed that all answers shall be approved by the CC prior to publication.

It was agreed to start publishing EACC FAQs with those discussed at the meeting in Tallinn after determining together with the EA Secretariat how such document should be implemented in EA.

More harmonized selection of conformity assessment standards

Further to the completion of the EA Accreditation for Notification (AfN) project (see our previous news), that aimed at increasing harmonisation between accreditation bodies when accrediting conformity assessment (CA) bodies for the purposes of notification through the establishment of a list of Preferred CA Standards. An EACC Task Force Group, convened by Michael Berger from PEFC Council, is elaborating on a guidance document for selection of CA standards by scheme owners and regulators.

A first part will describe selection criteria for ISO/IEC 17065 and ISO/IEC 17021, and it is intended that a second part will include a decision tree for final decision. The outcome will be presented at the next CC meeting. It is intended that a later version of this document will also include reference to ISO/IEC 17020.

Evaluation of the need for guidance documents and revisions to some standards

The results of the implementation survey just carried out by IAF, which will be discussed within the ad hoc IAF WG to assess whether some guidance is needed or not, show that many clauses of ISO/IEC 17065 need more a clarification than a full revision of the standard. The EACC TFG previously appointed to assess the need for guidance to ISO/IEC 17065 will consider the results of the IAF survey as an input to IAF.

It was reminded that, at its meeting in March 2016, the CC had agreed that EA would let IAF decide upon any need for guidance on ISO/IEC 17024. It was acknowledged that, in case the IAF TC decides to draft guidance, EA’s representation and contribution will be of the utmost importance.

In parallel, the EA CC supported CEN/CENELEC TC1 in its decision to postpone the 2017-planned revisions of ISO/IEC 17065 and ISO/IEC 17024 for further 5 years.

Finally, the need for drafting guidance on accreditation under EN 15224 will be discussed at the next CC meeting.

Non-accredited certification offered by accredited CBs

Further to previous discussions in the committee, it was agreed that the EA CC should follow up the implementation of the resolution drafted by the IAF TC to be submitted to the ILAC/IAF General Assembly in New Delhi in this autumn, providing that: “Management systems certification bodies must transition certification documentation to include the accreditation symbol and/or reference the accreditation status of the CB at the time of recertification or within 3 years, by DATE (based on the date of the resolution)”. This resolution will imply a compulsory use of the accreditation mark in order to know whether the certification is covered or not by accreditation.

EACC representation in international meetings

The EA CC agreed to look into both EA-1/21: EA Internal Procedure for Liaison Activities and IAF PR6:2011 to assess whether a guidance document is needed for the Committee’s members to represent the EACC at international meetings, especially at IAF meetings. Discussions should be pursued in March 2017.

EACC-relevant documents

It was recalled that, after a long-term elaboration process, mandatory EA-3/13: EA Document on the Application of ISO/IEC 17021-1 for the Certification of Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems (OH&SMS) had been published in June 2016. The TFG was disbanded in Tallinn. The EA document has been put forward as EA’s input to IAF TC where the issue is now to be discussed.

EACC WG Environment has finalized a revised draft of EA-7/04: Legal Compliance as a Part of Accredited ISO 14001: 2004 Certification, which was endorsed by the CC. According to the new work item approved at the EA General Assembly in November 2015, the draft should now be sent out for a joint 60-day comment period within both EA and CC.

EA-6/03: EA Document for Recognition of Verifiers under the EU ETS Directive is being revised by EA Network Group EU ETS, within which comments had been called for until the summer. The comments should now analysed by the NG.

EACC WG Food agreed to draft a rationale for revision of EA-6/04: EA Guidelines on the Accreditation of Certification of Primary Sector Products by Means of Sampling of Sites after evaluating the need for revision through a survey aimed at knowing which NAB uses the document.

At last, the EA CC decided to recommend the EA General Assembly in November 2016 the adoption of the following Level 4 standards, the first three of which complement the existing requirements of ISO/IEC 17021:2011:
– ISO/IEC TS 17021-5:2014 – Competence requirements for auditing and certification of asset management systems;
– ISO/IEC TS 17021-6:2014 – Competence requirements for auditing and certification of business continuity management systems;
– ISO/IEC TS 17021-7:2014 – Competence requirements for auditing and certification of road traffic safety management systems;
– ISO 50003:2014 that specifies requirements for competence, consistency and impartiality in the auditing and certification of energy management systems (EnMS).

Strategic session

The full morning of the meeting’s second day was dedicated to a strategic group discussion aimed at considering the relationship between certification bodies and consultants.

EA CC members were divided into 6 groups to discuss and answer the following 3 questions:
What activities can a CB do that are not consultancy?
Can a CB publish a list of consultants? If yes, what kind of controls would be needed?
At what point does a CB “cross the line” and break the rules of ISO/IEC 17021-1, ISO/IEC 17024 or ISO/IEC 17065?

This is a topic that comes up for discussion on a regular basis, therefore it was agreed that a clear and repeatable EA position is needed. The next steps will be agreed based on the collated feedback from the workshop groups, which may include a follow-up workshop at the next CC meeting.

Working Groups

As demonstrated by the Tallinn meeting, the 3 EACC working groups covering Food, Environment and EU ETS continue to do great work analysing activities within their sectors and advising the wider EACC membership.