Highlights of the 52nd General Assembly
The 52nd European co-operation for Accreditation (EA) General Assembly (GA) on 23rd November 2022 took place in Brussels, Belgium.
The General Assembly was hosted for the first time on site since the last General Assembly on 20-21 November 2019, and members were pleased to engage in lively discussions.
The General Assembly gathered around 100 participants from 45 National Accreditation Bodies (NABs), the EU Commission, EFTA, 10 Recognized Stakeholders, and the EA Advisory Board.
The General Assembly elected the Chair and a member of the Financial Oversight Committee for a two-year mandate expiring end of 2023.
- Stephan Finke (DAkkS, Germany) as FOC Chairman;
- Konrad Flueck (SAS, Switzerland)
EA MLA for Biobanking
EN ISO 20387 – Biotechnology — Biobanking — General requirements for biobanking is the international standard that establishes requirements for biological material and data quality. These requirements demonstrate an organization’s competence in proper handling, traceability, and long-term preservation of samples – human, animal, microorganisms, plant, and fungal samples.
EN ISO 20387 is a harmonised standard due to its adoption by the European Standardisation organisations CEN-CENELEC based on a request made by the European Commission.
The General Assembly decided to expand with immediate effect the EA MLA for biobanking as a level 2 conformity assessment activity using EN ISO 20387 as a new level 3 normative document.
EN ISO 15189, the preferred standard for medical laboratories
A medical laboratory is a laboratory where tests are carried out on clinical specimens to obtain information about the health of the patient to aid in the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease.
The preferred standard for the accreditation of medical laboratories is EN ISO 15189 Medical laboratories — Requirements for quality and competence. EN ISO/IEC 17025 can also be used for activities that are not directly patient-related. That also applies to the case that a national regulator requires the accreditation of a medical laboratory according to EN ISO/IEC 17025 – General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories.
EN ISO/IEC 17025, the preferred standard for sampling activities
The preferred standard for the accreditation of bodies performing sampling as a stand-alone activity is EN ISO/IEC 17025. EN ISO/IEC 17020 – Conformity assessment — Requirements for the operation of various types of bodies performing inspection could be considered to be also appropriate provided that all the corresponding requirements of the preferred standard are used as additional requirements within the accreditation process.
Communications and Publications Committee dissolution (CPC)
The General Assembly mandated the Executive Board to draft a revised EA-1/17 A: 2022 Rules of Procedures to incorporate the communications network and dissolute the Communications and Publications Committee and the related references in EA documents. The idea is to remove the CPC from the EA Technical Management Board, as the CPC is not a technical committee, and create a place where communications professionals will share their experience, and support each other in the promotion of accreditation, nationally and internationally.
The General Assembly paid a glowing tribute to several leaving members of :
- the Executive Board: Adrienne Duff (INAB, Ireland) and Emanuele Riva (ACCREDIA, Italy)
- the Technical Management Board: Lucyna Olborska (PCA, Poland), Laurent Vison (COFRAC, France), Kevin Belson (UKAS, UK), and Orbay Evrensevdi (TURKAK, Turkey).
- the Financial Oversight Committee: Jesper Høy (DANAK, Denmark)
The next meetings will be organised on 24-25 May 2023 by HAA (Croatia) and on 22-23 November by INAB (Ireland).
All the resolutions adopted at the 52nd EA General Assembly are available here.