ILAC News 38

for a better framework for cooperation withaccreditation bodies of countries not beingmembers of the EU and EFTA but fallingwithin the European Neighbourhood Policy(ENP), and particularly belonging to theEuro-Mediterranean area. A detailed reviewof the existing contracts of cooperationand bilateral agreements was subsequentlycarried out by the EA Executive Committeein late 2009.At its meeting in May 2010, the EAGeneral Assembly resolved that:• in accordance with the recently revisedEA Articles of Association, the associatemembership is offered to the accreditationbodies located within the countriesthat are either potential candidatecountries to the EU/EFTA or in theEuropean Neighbourhood Policy. Wherean associate member has a bilateralagreement with EA on its recognition inrelation to the EA MLA, it will be askedto sign a new BLA specific to associatemembers;• for accreditation bodies that areoutside of the EU/EFTA and EuropeanNeighbourhood Policy area, the existingcontracts of cooperation and bilateralagreements are allowed to remain in forcefor the time being, in line with the earlierGeneral Assembly resolutions.Additional actions are being taken to definecriteria, call for and evaluate applicationsfrom accreditation bodies interested in anon-going relationship with EA in line withEA-1/13. The results of the evaluations bythe EA Multi-Lateral Agreement Councilshould be presented to the General Assemblyin November 2011.Boosting EA perspectivesThe EA Executive Committee held a strategysession in combination with its first 2010meeting in January. The objective was torevise the EA Strategic Plan and develop avision for the Secretariat in accordance withthe new role and enhanced status given toEA by Regulation (EC) 765/2008. This wasa first step in the process: discussions aregoing on within the Executive Committeewith a view to present a revised plan to theEA General Assembly in November 2010.“The objective was torevise the EA StrategicPlan and develop a visionfor the Secretariat inaccordance with the newrole and enhanced statusgiven to EA by Regulation(EC) 765/2008.”employment contract.The EA Executive Committee has completedthe second stage of revision of the EAArticles of Association and Rules ofProcedure. The first stage had been achievedat the end of 2009 with the adoption andpublication of the Articles, after Articles 1through 4 of the Articles had been revisedto align the EA membership criteria with theEuropean Regulation requirements. Now therevised draft is ready to go out for commentsin due course for the final draft to be ratifiedand published by the end of 2010.Formal adoption of ILAC and IAFresolutions and documents withinEAIn May 2010 the EA General Assemblyresolved that the EA Executive Committeeshall review the resolutions from ILACand IAF at the first Executive Committeemeeting following the ILAC and IAF GeneralAssemblies, before making proposals toformally adopt within EA any resolutionthat impacts on the operation of EA-memberaccreditation bodies.A parallel procedure should soon providethat ILAC and IAF documents which aremandatory for EA MLA signatories, aswell as for EA as the regional cooperationbody that administers and manages theevaluations of EA signatories to the ILACand IAF arrangements, shall be submittedto EA members for endorsement. ApprovedILAC or IAF documents will be proposedto the EA General Assembly for formalapproval. ILAC and IAF documents endorsedas EA documents will be available throughthe EA website.In case ILAC or IAF documents containprovisions, principles or policies conflictingwith those adopted for the Europeanaccreditation system, the EA ExecutiveCommittee shall bring the matter to theattention of the EA Advisory Board, askingthe latter for advice on how to resolvethe conflict. A proposal supplemented bya recommendation to solve the conflictidentified will be submitted to the EAGeneral Assembly. This recommendation mayconsist of drafting a specific EA document toreplace the international document.continued next pageAs a very first outcome, the Paris EASecretariat is getting support. Further to theneed approved by the last General Assemblyin May 2010 to increase the EA Secretariat’shuman resources, EA has just selected anadditional person to reinforce the team inParis in their daily activities as from summer2010 on the basis of a fixed-term part-timeThe 25th EA General Assembly held on 20 and 21 May 2010 in Zürich, Switzerland, brought togethermore than 80 delegates representing 40 EA members and contract of cooperation signatories.ILAC News | Regional Cooperations15