News
APLAC 13th General Assembly Meets in Malaysia
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| Attendees of the 2007 APLAC meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. |
International Accreditation Service (IAS) President Chuck Ramani and Accreditation Manager Raj Nathan attended the Asia Pacific Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (APLAC) meeting December 1-7, 2007, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. This year’s APLAC meeting included over 100 delegates from countries around the world.
The highlight of the conference was the first signatories to an APLAC Mutual Recognition Arrangement that covers the accreditation of reference materials producers. The inaugural signatories included the American Association for Laboratory Accreditation (United States), the National Association of Testing Authorities (Australia), the China National Accreditation Service (People’s Republic of China) and International Accreditation Japan (Japan).
In other business, IAS Vice President Patrick McCullen was designated Chairman of the Inspection Body Accreditation Working Group to review the draft proposed changes to ISO/IEC Standard 17020.
The technical discussions at the APLAC meeting included important sessions on proficiency testing, challenges with medical laboratory accreditation, International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation proposal documents, Calibration and Measurement Capability versus Best Measurement Capability, and much more.
The meeting concluded with the General Assembly meeting presided over by Terence Chan of Hong Kong Accreditation Service. The Department of Standards Malaysia did a commendable job hosting the meeting and bringing the warmth and diversity of Malaysia to the participants.