ILAC News 38

ACCREDIA celebrates ‘Global Acceptance’This year marks the 10th anniversary Technical quality is considered to be theof the ILAC Mutual Recognitionstrategic objective in the new ServiceArrangement (MRA) and the 12thContract between the Italian Governmentanniversary of the IAF Multilateraland the RAI.Recognition Arrangement (MLA).On the occasion of World Accreditation Day,ACCREDIA – the Italian Accreditation Body– in collaboration with RAI – public servicebroadcaster, CONFINDUSTRIA SIT – Italianbusiness association for technology services,and AICQ – the most important Italianquality association, organised a roundtablewith the theme “Make Quality - Productsand Services to compete” for the 7 June. Theevent took place at the RAI head office inRome and the opening speech was made byACCREDIA President Federico Grazioli.The aim of the meeting was to strengthenthe message that certified quality is theinstrument which gives tangible advantagesto the economic system and to collective life:to companies – reinforcing competitivenessand efficiency with the recognition ofcompetencies also on an international level– and to the general public – guaranteeinginnovative services and products as well asbetter consumer goods from the point ofview of safety.RAI, through the Direction of TechnologyStrategies, confirmed, thanks to thisroundtable, its commitment to technicalquality of service as an essential requirementof the relationship with users.ACCREDIA was recognised as the guarantorfor quality and safety of Italian products.AICQ bore testimony to its role for thedissemination of the Culture of Quality inItaly.Confindustria SIT has acknowledged thecommitment of associated companies forquality in Italy and in the rest of Europe.Contributions were made by other importantleaders of top companies to whom qualityand customer satisfaction are a majorstrategic factor for market competitiveness.Another event of great importance to furtherreinforce the value of accreditation in Italytook place at the Chamber of Deputies (SalaMarini) in Rome on the subject of “Qualifiedprofessional persons and the free market”.The meeting, held on 21 June, was organisedwith UNI – Italian National StandardisationBody – and Assoprofessioni – the Italianassociation for non-classified occupations.Many qualified leaders and representativesfrom various professional associations tookpart.One of the main speakers was AntonioPaoletti, Vice-President of ACCREDIA whosecontribution discussed the principal topic ofaccredited professional persons and was agreat success.Professional persons have a fundamentalrole in improving competitiveness, asthey represent a key factor for businessdevelopment and the quality of products andprocesses for the benefit of consumers.ASSOPROFESSIONI have begun, with UNI,procedures for the recognition – throughthe establishment of technical standards –of each occupation based in the nationaleconomy, with the aim that they will befollowed by audit certification and accreditedby ACCREDIA.There was a general agreement (includingfrom Members of Parliament whoparticipated in the roundtable) about theunsuitability of the classified occupationassociations to ensure for the country alevel of expertise in traditional sectors andto respond to the growing needs of newprofessional persons.The way to standardisation, certification,accreditation – currently at an advancedstage at an international level – seemsto provide the best response to currentproblems and ACCREDIA will have animportant role to play in this area.Swedac celebrated the World AccreditationDay at the head office in Borås and atthe Stockholm office. Swedac’s internationalsecretariat lectured on the theme ‘GlobalAcceptance’. Mrs Merih Malmqvist Nilsson,Head of the secretariat, and Mrs IngridArremark, Technical Expert, developedthoughts on the importance of theinternational and national work to promoteaccreditation to really enforce the goal of‘Tested/certified once, accepted everywhere’.The staff took part in a Swedac quiz totest their knowledge of various mattersSwedac celebrated the WorldAccreditation Dayconcerning the international work andrules eg agreements on mutual recognition.The reward for taking part was coffee,strawberries and icecream. The winners ofthe quiz also received a Swedac rugsack.Swedac also published special articles on‘Global Acceptance’ in its magazine SwedacKvalitetsaktuellt for customers and in itsnewsletter for the staff. On 9 June Swedac’snew website was launched, and of course,the first news to appear was information onthe World Accreditation Day!Webmaster Heléne Johansson shows Swedac’snew website launched on 9 June.Photo: Johan MikaelssonILAC News | Accreditation21