The 2013 Seoul International Symposium on Conformity Assessment was held on 15 October 2013 before the start of the 2013 Seoul IAF-ILAC Joint Meetings, and hosted by the Korean Agency for Technology and Standards (KATS) from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy of the Republic of Korea.

About 200 participants representing Korean testing and certification bodies, government bodies and industries together with a large number of global conformity assessment leaders, including the IAF Chair and ISO Deputy Secretary General, joined this symposium organized by the Korea Testing Inspection Certification Association (KOTICA).

The 2013 Symposium was dedicated to the theme “Conformity Assessment – Facilitating World Trade”.

Upon KATS’s invitation, Thomas Facklam, the EA Chairman, made a presentation focusing on the status of testing, inspection and certification industry as well as the development of conformity assessment activities in European countries.

This was a valuable moment for EA to share ideas and experiences with the world leaders and Korean organizations in the conformity assessment field. This is also likely to reinforce EA’s visibility at a wide international level and highlight the close links EA and Europe have with Asia.