This 36th meeting brought together 49 participants from 40 National Accreditation Bodies and EUROLAB, one of EA Recognized Stakeholders, in Warsaw (Poland) to deal with inspection accreditation issues.

The discussions mainly focused on the following subjects:

Implementation of ISO/IEC 17020 and the positions taken by EA-IC on its implementation: revision of ILAC-P15:07/2016 Application of ISO/IEC 17020:2012 for the Accreditation of Inspection Bodies was addressed. RvA delegate in the EAIC is a member of the ILAC TFG in charge. IC provided the RvA representative the Committee consolidated input to the ongoing revision of the document.

Technical Network Car Inspection: as recommended by the TN, the IC set up a sub-group of the TN. The new Convenor of the new EAIC/CITA TFG is Javier Barroso from ENAC. The TFG reported on its June 2018 meeting. Traceability of calibrations, independence and competence of the Accreditation Body Assessment teams, uncertainty in Periodical Technical Inspection (PTI) measurements and independence of PTI Centers were the key topics on the TFG table in June. Several amendments were also proposed to revise EA-5/02 EA Guidance on the Application of ISO/IEC 17020 in Periodic Inspection of the Roadworthiness of Motor Vehicles and their Trailers such as adding a reference to ILAC G-27 Guidance on measurements performed as part of an inspection process and an annex list of equipment which need traceability in the PTI scheme. It was also reported that TURKAK will nominate a member to the TFG.

Informal Leading Group for EU ETV: an update on latest development had been prepared by Pierre Henry from the European Commission, to inform IC members on:

  • the adoption of Version 1.3 of the General Verification Protocol (GVT), which came into effect on 1st April 2018, with the purpose to provide the organizational/technical framework and procedures required to support the provision of independent and credible information on new environmental technologies and serves as the main technical reference for the implementation of the EU Environmental Technology Verification (EVT) pilot programme
  • the evaluation of the ETV programme is now completed and should be published soon. This evaluation highlights the need of credible and transparent information on technology performance in business-to-business markets and therefore need for ETV in the European context, the robustness of the ETV system by providing added value and with a harmonized approach of requirements at EU level. It also shows that ETV contributes to an increase of sales for verified technologies. The Commission will now prepare its own evaluation report (adoption planned in early 2019) and the future shape of the EU ETV programme.

The meeting was also the occasion to update IC Members on the collaboration with the European Union for Railway, the progress managed in the implementation plan of EA Strategy 2025 and the activities ongoing at ILAC level. Concerning the “ERA” scheme in railways, discussions currently focus on Assessment Bodies provided in the scheme. As liaison with ILAC, Orbay Evrensevdi, the IC Vice Chair, reported on the mid-term meetings of the ILAC Inspection Committee, Accreditation Issues Committee and Arrangement Committee. The agenda for those committees meetings planned to take place in October in Singapore were reviewed.

Once a year, EA IC organizes a workshop which aims to harmonize implementation on critical points highlighted and decided by EA IC members in advance. The second day of the Warsaw meeting was dedicated to the workshop. Members were divided into 6 groups to exchange on the following points:

  • Examination issues in inspection, including the added point of inspection as a whole service package as expected by some clients.
  • Interface issues related to the application of ISO/IEC 17020 Conformity assessment — Requirements for the operation of various types of bodies performing inspection and ISO/IEC 17025 General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories.
  • Evaluation risks associated with contracts for combined activities on the market (e.g. periodic service / maintenance and subsequent inspection of lifts (in use) done by the same or by related companies).

The next EA IC meeting will be on 12 March 2019 in Oslo (Norway), hosted by NA.