April 2020: European co-operation for Accreditation (EA) has just been recognized by the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) as the first regional co-operation body member of the ILAC MRA for accreditation of Reference Material Producers (RMP) using ISO 17034.

EA is a recognized regional cooperation body of ILAC, it means that the EA Multilateral Agreement (EA MLA) and accreditations delivered by EA signatories who are also a member of ILAC are recognized by ILAC and covered by ILAC arrangements. Formal recognition of a regional cooperation body under the ILAC MRA is based on an evaluation of the regional cooperation body’s competence to operate a multilateral agreement.

In 2018 and 2019, EA was evaluated for the extension to RMP by an ILAC team composed of independent peer evaluators led by Anne Hofstra (IANZ, New Zealand), Bruce Li (TAF, Thailand), Neville Tayler (SANAS, South Africa) and Liliane Somma (OUA, Uruguay).

Following this evaluation, the ILAC Arrangement Council endorsed the decision of the Arrangement Management Committee (AMC) to extend the recognition of the EA MLA to the ILAC MRA for Reference Material Producers (ISO 17034):

The ILAC AMC recommends that the scope of recognition of the EA MLA to the ILAC MRA be:

  • continued for the accreditation of calibration and testing laboratories using ISO/IEC 17025, medical testing laboratories using ISO 15189, inspection bodies using ISO/IEC 17020 and proficiency testing providers using ISO/IEC 17043; and
  • extended to include the accreditation of reference material producers (RMP) using ISO 17034.

EA is the first regional co-operation bodies recognised in ILAC for accreditation of RMP, with 8 National Accreditation Bodies signatories to the EA MLA for RMP (click here to access to the full list) They delivered 38 accreditation in 2019 and became the first signatories to the ILAC MRA for RMP!

The next re-evaluation of EA shall begin in 2022.

EA is already recognized under the ILAC MRA for Calibration (ISO/IEC 17025), Testing (ISO/IEC 17025), Medical Testing (ISO 15189),Inspection (ISO/IEC 17020) and Proficiency Testing Providers (ISO/IEC 17043). EA is also recognized under the IAF MLA for Product Certification – (ISO/IEC 17065), Management Systems Certification (ISO/IEC 17021-1), Certification of Persons – (ISO/IEC 17024), and Validation and Verification (ISO 14065).