ILAC News 38

World Accreditation Day 2010 in KoreaKOLAS organized a series of events tocelebrate the 3rd World AccreditationDay at the Korean Agency for Technologyand Standards on 9 and 11 June 2010.The expert conference was held on 9 June2010, by inviting experts in conformityassessment fields to share information aboutthe ILAC-MRA and accreditation system, andto discuss plans for reinforcing internationalconfidence by ensuring trust and competenceof KOLAS.The theme of this conference was ‘the keyof new market development and tradevitalization’. The discussions covered theimportance of mutual recognition forproduct/test certificates, KOLAS policiesand its future plan to strengthen globalcompetitiveness in new industry areasincluding medical testing laboratories,software, reference materials, etc.The experts emphasized establishing thecredibility of KOLAS schemes, governmentinvestment for building safety in softwarefields, development of new products in hightechnology business and clinical fields, andthe need to develop reference materials forsafety assessment.“…importance of mutualrecognition for product/test certificates, KOLASpolicies and its futureplan to strengthenglobal competitivenessin new industry areasincluding medical testinglaboratories, software,reference materials.”As part of the celebration, KOLAS heldthe commemorative seminar for WorldAccreditation Day on 11 June 2010 atthe Korean Agency for Technology andStandards. This seminar attracted 350domestic experts in conformity assessment,including corporate personnel, KOLASaccreditedlaboratories, interested parties,and assessors.Prior to the seminar, an award ceremonywas performed for eight individualsParticipants and delegates at the World Accreditation Day events.and three organizations that havecontributed to the testing fields ofKOLAS-accredited laboratories, includingthe “Telecommunications TechnologyAssociation”.During the seminar KOLAS introduced theinternational framework of the accreditationsystem, the restructuring of the KOLAS, andthe guideline for management of technicalrecords that has been recently published.The experts made suggestions for thedirection of KOLAS policies and the priorityfor a medical laboratory accreditationprogram (ISO 15189) that KOLAS hasrecently launched. Also, they proposed theplan for establishing an assessment systemin the software fields. Accordingly, theKOLAS system with the addition of the newindustries and field programs, now operates18 tasks in 5 fields - energy, environment,software, forensic science, and medicallaboratory testing (ISO 15189).ILAC News | Accreditation29