Almost 60 participants attended the meeting of the MLA Council, representing 40 national accreditation bodies. Nike Boennen represented the European Commission and Roxanne Robinson, the team leader of the ILAC/IAF team in charge of evaluating EA attended also. The number of evaluation reports published for review at the meeting was relatively limited. The MAC indeed had to consider the outcome of 5 evaluations conducted during the February – October 2014 period, supplemented by the 5 reports submitted by the TFGs appointed for the review of the evaluation reports.
Most reports concerned regular re-evaluations but the MAC decided that IARM, the NAB of The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, could enter the MLA for medical testing according to ISO 15189.
The MAC considered 3 other follow up reports resulting from previous decisions and one report confirming that the process for the evaluation of our colleagues in MOLDAC, Moldova, could continue.
Overall in 2015, the MAC is monitoring a total of 13 evaluations, including 3 pre-evaluations and one initial evaluation. Another important step forward was achieved concerning the future EA MLA for accreditation of Proficiency testing providers. Having considered several options, the MAC agreed to start the MLA when at least 3 NABs will have been successfully evaluated. Peer evaluations have started to be planned in 2016.
9 NABs have already expressed interest in being evaluated during their regular re-evaluation and 3 other NABs have asked for an extraordinary evaluation to cover extension to the new field. A training workshop for team members in the field is being organized by the Laboratory committee and hosted by UKAS, during the last quarter of the year.
The next meeting will take place on 1-2 October in Berlin, hosted by DAkkS.