ILAC News 38

Accreditation UpdateNews From TafBy Wanji YangTAF Becomes an EPA-RecognisedAccreditation Body for the ENERGYSTAR® ProgramTAF has been formally recognised by theUS EPA to accredit laboratories to conducttesting for ENERGY STAR® qualifiedproducts, starting from 21 July 2010.TAF had been receiving requests fromits accredited laboratories regarding theaccreditation for ENERGY STAR® productstesting. In order to prepare for earlyrecognition by the US EPA, TAF startedto conduct technical meetings, seminarsand training courses a few months ago. Itsapplication for “Recognition of AccreditationBody for ENERGY STAR® LaboratoryAccreditation” was submitted as soon asthe recognition was open to ILAC MRASignatories. TAF is pleased to announce thatit is now a US EPA-recognised accreditationbody and has launched its “AccreditationProgramme for US EPA Recognised ENERGYSTAR® Laboratory” on 23 July 2010.International Workshop onWorldwide Accreditationand Certification ofTelecommunications EquipmentThe “International Workshop on WorldwideAccreditation and Certification ofTelecommunications Equipment”, co-hostedby TAF, the National CommunicationsCommission (NCC) and the TelecomTechnology Center (TTC), was held on 10May 2010 in parallel with the APEC TEL41 meetings in Taipei. Honourable speakersfrom several mature governmental agencieswere invited to share technical regulationsand requirements and the MRA acceptancestatus in their own countries: Mr GeorgeTannahill from the FCC (USA), Mr PeterChau from the Industry Canada (Canada),Dr Nob Nakanishi from the JVLATE (Japan),Ms Melinda Tan from the iDA (Singapore)and Mr Roger Sheng from the TTC (ChineseTaipei). As telecommunication productsare very much related to laboratory testingand product certification, Mr Nigel Joufrom TAF represented both APLAC and PACand provided information on these twointernational cooperations and the link withAPEC TEL. Some 140 people participatedin this workshop, including 90 laboratoryheads from TAF accredited EMC testinglaboratories. The hosts received positivefeedback from participants, and appreciatedthe contributions from all speakers.World Accreditation DayCelebrationsTAF has organised a series of activities tocelebrate the World Accreditation Day and itstheme “global acceptance”. The joint messagefrom the ILAC and IAF Chair has been postedon the TAF website in both Chinese andEnglish languages and the poster has beendisplayed at all TAF activities since March.The celebration activities include:Seminar on the Benefits of theMRA/MLAs, 7 June 2010TAF invited representatives from the traderelated government agencies, accreditedlaboratories and certification bodies, toexchange information on the benefits ofadopting TAF accreditation, using TAFaccredited conformity assessment bodies andissuing reports bearing the ILAC LaboratoryCombined MRA Mark. Questions coveringtopics such as data on economic impacts ontrade, connection with WTO/TBT activitiesand acceptance level by regulators, etc wereraised and discussed. More than 70 peopleparticipated in the seminar.“Accreditation Once, AcceptedGlobally” Forum, 8 June 2010TAF invited six representatives from variousgovernmental and private sectors to sharetheir views on how to promote the ultimategoal of global acceptance. It was particularly36 Issue 38 | October 2010