On 18-19 December in Roissy (France), the EA Secretariat hosted a 2-days workshop focused on the implementation of the CETA protocol. The workshop was co-convened by Cristina Draghici (Instructor – SCC) and Teague Lamarche (Facilitator – SCC, Standards Council of Canada), with the “support” of Allan Bozek (Technical expert on HAZLOC and electrical products) and Anwar Syed on the first and second day, remotely from Canada.

This workshop was arranged and financed by EA; it brought together 21 participants from 15 EA National Accreditation Bodies (NAB).

Signed during the EU-Canada Summit on 30th October 2016, the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) is a trade agreement designed to strengthen economic relations and develop trade between the European Union and Canada. CETA includes a Protocol on the Mutual Acceptance of the Results of Conformity Assessment (the CA Protocol). This Protocol establishes mutual recognition of European and Canadian Accreditation Bodies (AB) and Conformity Assessment Bodies (CABs) with the aim of accepting the results of each other’s conformity assessment certificates in such areas as electrical goods, electronic and radio equipment, toys, machinery and measuring equipment.

In March-May 2018, assessment for recognition of NABs and CABs according to the CA Protocol was performed:

  • In Europe, according to ISO/IEC 17065 and the HAZLOC requirements;
  • In Canada, according to ISO/IEC 17065 and the ATEX requirements.

During the December workshop, the following topics were discussed:

  • How to achieve Mutual Recognition of NABs and Conformity Assessment Bodies (CAB)
  • CETA Framework Development: outline of the protocol requirements, requirements for recognition, product categories
  • Building a framework of continued cooperation: maintaining competence, understanding contexts, ongoing support and cooperation
  • Hazardous Locations (HAZLOC) Requirements – Hazardous Locations in Canada and Options for certifying hazardous locations equipment
  • Electrical and Electronic Equipment requirements ‐ Electrical installations and appliances and Related components (conducted remotely from Canada by Allan Bozek)
  • General and Resource requirements in the SCC (the Canadian accreditation body) Products Certification scheme
  • Overview of construction products requirements: types of constructions products, Canadian regulatory, navigating construction product requirements (conducted remotely from Canada by Anwar Syed)

 

The workshop was very successful and will help the NABs to accredit CABs under CETA according the Canadian requirements. At the end of the 2-days, the participants reported they were pleased to find that “the training content was really useful to get a good overview of the Canadian legal system as far as accreditation is concerned. There was quite a lot of information about certification marks and all rules related to the matter.” For some of the participants, they pointed out that “although we currently have no applicant, we wanted to collect information so that we can appropriately respond to enquiries from CABs and from national authorities – we have now this information and/or knowledge on how to find it.”