National Association of Testing Authorities, Australia

As the specifiers of accreditation typically are health authorities and they may not adhere to an AB’s preferred standard, members were asked to consider the need for a statement of equivalence between the two standards (similar to the Joint ISO-ILAC-IAF Communique on the Management Systems Requirements of ISO/IEC 17025, General Requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratori. [...] A presentation on the application of ‘new’ technology in the field of inspection was provided by UKAS and the question arose as to whether there is a need for an ILAC document on the accreditation of remote inspection activities and whether the capability should be identified in scopes of accreditation. [...] - the responses to the French comments are to be reviewed and relevant changes made to the French version of the document. [...] Progress on the review and updating of the method validation standards was discussed, including: • ISO 16140-2 Microbiology of the food chain - Method validation - Part 2: Protocol for the validation of alternative (propriety) methods against a reference method - options were presented for determination of dilution factors, bacterial toxins are to be included with the exception of mycotoxins. [...] • Discussion on the Republic of Korea Clean Hydrogen Trade Initiative • Provided input on the TBT Chapter of the Australia-India CECA agreement and feedback on the India CECA text proposal • Provided feedback on the proposed AANZFTA activities for 2022 • Provided information on our knowledge of the International Code Council (ICC) • Performance review of the Memorandum of Understanding with the Co.