Results of the Meeting of Working Group on Assessors’ Activities
September 04, 2019
A meeting of the working group on assessors’ activities at the RusAccreditation Public Council took place on August 27, attended by over 30 participants including the Head and employees of the national accreditation body, the National Institute for Accreditation of RusAccreditation, the Standing Committee on the Activities of the Certification Bodies for Products, Works, Services and Staff at the RusAccreditation Public Council, and members of the scientific and expert community.
One of the key issues on the agenda was the implementation of accreditation criteria and GOST R ISO/IEC 17065-2012 in the assessment of certification bodies. The participants exchanged their views on the requirement for certification bodies to have the necessary number of employees involved in the confirmation of conformity in each area. The views were also considered on the requirements for the status, competence, and responsibility of the head and deputy head of a certification body in carrying out confirmation of conformity. Following the discussion, Head of RusAccreditation Alexey Khersontsev underlined that participants of the national accreditation system had to be conscious of their responsibility for the results of confirmation of conformity. A certification body should provide the necessary number of competent workers, including no less than two workers in one area, and such an interpretation should be regarded as the only possible.
Deputy Head of RusAccreditation Alexander Litvak explained how that referred to the improvement of general competence and integrity of certification bodies. At the same time, the subject of establishing requirements for the head of a certification body and employees involved in the analysis and (or) decision-making may be considered in the preparation of a new edition of accreditation criteria.
Members of the working group also discussed issues related to the transition to the new version of the interstate standard GOST ISO/IEC 17025-2019, including amendments to the accreditation criteria, the plan of the transition to the new version of the standard, training of experts, and conformity assessment of testing laboratories (centers) to the requirements of the standard. Deputy Head of RusAccreditation Alexander Litvak commented on the clarification of this issue prepared by RusAccreditation. Deputy Director-General of the National Institute for Accreditation of RusAccreditation Adel Lebedeva reported on the implementation of projects devoted to the transition to the new version of the international standard ISO/IEC 17025:2017 on the single educational platform of the national accreditation system.
The minutes of the meeting of the working group on the assessors’ activities at the RusAccreditation Public Council dated August 27, 2019, will be available in the working group section in the nearest future.
