International Accreditation Forum, Inc. (IAF)

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1 International Accreditation Forum, Inc. (IAF) IAF AM Rev1 Page 1 of 25 of the IAF Nineteenth Annual General Assembly Langham Hotel, Auckland, New Zealand Saturday 17 and Monday 19 September Welcome and Convening of Meeting On behalf of the hosts, International Accreditation New Zealand (IANZ), the IAF Chairman, Dr Thomas Facklam, welcomed all delegates to New Zealand and declared the Nineteenth Annual General Assembly (GA) Meeting open. The Chairman said that it was a long way to travel to New Zealand, but as our colleagues from IANZ had to make the same journey every time they attended a General Assembly meeting, it was only right that members returned the favour and did the same The Chairman called for a roll call and referred to the proxies which had been received prior to the meeting. The list of proxies as read by the Secretary was accepted The Chairman declared a quorum The Chairman reminded delegates of the availability of the official Member List and of the fact that only the nominated Member Representatives were authorised to speak and vote on behalf of the Member they represented. 2. Apologies Members adopted the following resolution: IAF Resolution (Agenda Item 2) Acceptance of Apologies and Proxies The General Assembly received and accepted the list of apologies for non-attendance and accepted the notifications of proxies by members. 3. Approval of Agenda The draft agenda was adopted. It was noted that 6.3 Report of the Development Support Committee and 8.1 Report from ISO/IEC would be given at the meeting of the Joint IAF-ILAC General Assemblies (JGA). It was agreed that 5.2 Report from the Treasurer would be presented following the international liaison reports. Members adopted the following resolution: IAF Resolution (Agenda Item 3) Approval of the Agenda The General Assembly adopted the draft agenda (ref IAF AM ). IAF GA19_ Rev1

2 Page 2 of of the Eighteenth General Assembly Meeting of IAF 4.1. Adoption of The draft minutes were approved. Members adopted the following resolution: IAF Resolution (Agenda Item 4) of the Eighteenth Meeting - The General Assembly approved the draft as a true record of the Eighteenth Annual Meeting, held in Cape Town, South Africa, on 9 and 11 October, 2004 (ref IAF AM ) as circulated Matters Arising from the There were no matters arising from the minutes that were not already included in the agenda for this meeting. 5. Governance 5.1. Report by the Chairman The Chairman presented his report, noting that it was pleasing to see the increase in IAF membership continuing. IAF now had a total of 69 members, these being 46 Accreditation Body Members, 14 Association Members (9 certification/registration body associations and 5 industry/user associations), 4 Regional Groups with special recognition, 2 Partner Members and 3 Observer Members. During the year the licensing arrangements for the IAF MLA Mark had been extended to cover the EMS and Product MLAs and the response to this had been very supportive. A request had been received to clarify which programs the Mark could be used with and this will be addressed by the IAF Executive. The registration and protection of the Mark was being undertaken on behalf of Members by IAF and was ongoing with an allocation of US $30,000 in the budget for this activity. The IAF Code of Conduct had now been adopted by 45 Accreditation Body Members, with only one member still to sign. This was very encouraging. The relationship with ILAC had strengthened considerably over the last 12 months, with three new Joint Working Groups (JWG) being formed. An Agreement for Closer Cooperation with ILAC had been developed and it was proposed that this would be signed at the Joint General Assemblies on the following day. In 2002 the IAF Executive had held a special Strategic Directions meeting and the opportunity would be taken this November to review progress on the IAF Scorecard and to plan future strategies. The Chairman invited members to forward their suggestions concerning IAF future directions to the Secretary. A further Customer Satisfaction Survey had recently been completed with an overall increase in the satisfaction of the service provided by Accreditation Bodies (ABs). However the competence of ABs and their assessors needed to be focused on. The Chairman referred to the Chairman s Advisory Group on Promotion which had been formed at the Berlin GA. This group had consisted primarily of only one person, with occasional help from a few others. While it had been possible to successfully develop the IAF Newsletter, it was now necessary to provide more support to this area and it was proposed that a proper committee should be formed.

3 Page 3 of 25 If this was agreed to by the GA draft Terms of Reference would be circulated for comment and ballot approval. With regard to finance, due to a greater than 30 % decrease in the value of the US $ against the Euro over the last few years, it had been necessary to budget for a 10 % increase in membership fees for this year. Many members had in fact been paying lower membership fees in real terms than they had in 2003 due to changes in currency exchange rates. The Chairman concluded by covering the main elements of the Cross Frontier Accreditation Policy and the experience gained in establishing networks of ABs and the definition of critical locations. Members adopted the following resolution: IAF Resolution (Agenda Item 5.1) Report by the Chairman - The General Assembly received with appreciation the report of the Chairman as presented Mr Anthony Craven, Convener of the Chairman s Advisory Group (CAG) on Promotions, referred to the first edition of the IAF Newsletter which had been published in February this year. The second edition was planned to be issued in October and would be Web based. A corporate brochure was being developed which would cover information about IAF and the benefits of accreditation, a possible case study and the full IAF membership list. It was anticipated that this would be available in October/November. Mr Craven said that following the comments received at last year s GA he had met with representatives of the ILAC and Regional Accreditation Group (the Regions) communication committees to discuss mutual objectives, the pooling of resources to raise awareness and to promote the international mutual recognition framework. There were a number of advantages in doing so, including avoiding duplication of effort, providing a united message and minimising any confusion between accreditation "products". Mr Craven proposed that a joint committee should be formed with ILAC and the Regions to undertake joint promotional activities. The time had also come to establish a formal committee within IAF to deal with the increasingly important areas of promotion and communications. It could no longer be undertaken by only one person In response to Mr Craven s presentation it was suggested that the emphasis should be on communications rather than promotion. It was felt that there was a critical need to communicate with stakeholders and it was important to ensure that the Terms of Reference clearly identified what was expected from such a committee. Members felt that greater use of the Web to support the MLA and interaction with ILAC and the Regions would be of value. Members adopted the following resolutions: IAF Resolution (Agenda Item 5.1.2) Report of Chairman s Advisory Group on Promotions The General Assembly received with appreciation the report of the Convener of the Chairman s Advisory Group on Promotions as presented. IAF Resolution (Agenda Item 5.1.2) Formation of Communications and Marketing Committee The General Assembly resolved to establish a Communications and Marketing Committee and directs the Board to circulate to all IAF Members draft Terms of Reference for 60 day comment and subsequent approval by 30 day ballot and to seek nominations for the chairmanship.

4 Page 4 of 25 IAF Resolution (Agenda Item 5.1.2) Joint Working Group on Communications The General Assembly resolved to establish a Joint Working Group with ILAC for communications and marketing of issues of common interest. It was further resolved that the respective Chairs of the IAF and ILAC Communications and Marketing Committees, together with those from the Regional Accreditation Groups and a member representing unaffiliated bodies, should prepare draft Terms of Reference and a proposed constitution to be considered by the Executive Committee at its first meeting in Report by the Treasurer Report considered following item 8 of the agenda Secretary s Report The Secretary referred to the official Member List, listing the names of Member Bodies and the authorised Member Representatives, which was available in the meeting room in accordance with the requirements of the Bylaws. Members adopted the following resolution IAF Resolution (Agenda Item 5.3.1) Current Membership - The General Assembly received the report by the Secretary on the current IAF membership as at September 2005 (ref IAF-AM Rev1) The Secretary reported that all members had paid their membership fees for 2005 as of the end of April The Secretary reported on the transfer of INN (Chile) from an Association Member to an Accreditation Body Member and the addition of two new Observer Members, WFSO and EASC, since the IAF 18 General Assembly Meeting. Since his report had been circulated, two ballots concerning the application for membership by OLAS and IPC had closed and members had voted in support of their joining IAF. At the start of the year, Mr Dale Misczynski, IAF Director representing the Industry and User Association Members had resigned, along with ITIC, the organisation he had represented. Members adopted the following resolutions: IAF Resolution (Agenda Item 5.3.3) New Members - The General Assembly received the Secretary s report (ref IAF GA19 Item 5.3) on the admission to membership since the 2004 Annual Meeting of the National Institute for Standardization (INN), Chile as an Accreditation Body Member having transferred from Association Body membership, and two new Observer Members (WFSO - World Food Safety Organisation and EASC the Euro-Asian Council for Standardization, Metrology and Certification for a 12 month period). The General Assembly also noted the resignation since the 2004 Annual Meeting of ITIC, the Information Technology Industry Council (USA).

5 Page 5 of 25 IAF Resolution (Agenda Item 5.3.4) Admission of OLAS and IPC - The General Assembly, noting the information provided to it, voted to an extend invitation to OLAS, the Luxembourg Office of Accreditation and Surveillance to become an Accreditation Body Member and IPC, the International Personnel Certification Association, to become an Association Body Member. Note: OLAS (Luxembourg) and IPC (Worldwide) signed the IAF MoU at a ceremony during the IAF-ILAC Gala Dinner on 17 September The GA noted that further information was being awaited to support membership applications received from the Foundation Sammarinese for Accreditation of Inspection Body (ESAOCI), IOAS and NISM Kyrgz. A recent membership application had been received from the Hellenic Accreditation System (ESYD) and it had been agreed by the Executive that this should be circulated to all members for ballot The Secretary reported that a total of 18 formal complaints had been received by IAF since September Of these, 16 had been successfully resolved and only two were currently open and in course of investigation. 6. Committee Reports 6.1. Report of the Technical Committee Mr Randy Dougherty (ANAB), Chairman of the Technical Committee (TC), reported that the committee had met for two days during the week following meetings of associated groups including the Auditing Practices Group (APG), the Accreditation Auditing Practices Group (AAPG), the JWG developing guidance on ISO/IEC and the Task Force on Advanced Surveillance and Reassessment Procedures/Computer Assisted Audit Techniques (ASRP/CAAT). At the TC it had been agreed to establish a new task force to maintain a log of key TC decisions and to include a standing agenda item covering liaison reports from the Regions. It was also agreed to form a new working group on PEFC for the exchange of information between ABs and industry involved with forest management and chain of custody issues. The TC had decided to suspend further development of the White Paper on auditing regulatory compliance as there were wide regional differences and it was felt it would be unlikely to be able to gain consensus. Some work was being undertaken in the UK which might overcome the need for this project. The TC had discussed the various proposals concerning future Annual Meetings and there had been general support to moving the main meeting to that held in February/March and the second meeting for the year immediately after the GA. It was very difficult to finalise reports and obtain approval for the TC resolutions in just one day before the GA. During the year the IAF TC had successfully balloted a revision to IAF GD 2 for temporary sites and ASRP/CAAT for QMS. These would be published in the near future and would become effective 12 months later. The approved amendments for temporary sites for IAF GD 6 would be held until the amendments for ASRP/CAAT had been finalised and approved. The full work program had been reviewed and it had been agreed to continue five existing projects and to commence five new ones. The TC had also proposed a resolution following discussion on the accreditation of training course providers and whether or not it conformed with ISO/IEC

6 Page 6 of 25 Members adopted the following resolutions: IAF Resolution (Agenda Item 6.1) Report from the Chairman of the Technical Committee - The General Assembly received with appreciation the report from the Chairman of the Technical Committee (ref IAF 19 Item 6.1) and approved the Technical Committee Program. IAF Resolution (Agenda Item 6.1) Cross Frontier Accreditation Policy - The General Assembly, acting on the recommendation of the Technical Committee resolved that the principles of the IAF Cross Frontier Accreditation Policy apply to all fields of accredited certification offered under IAF membership. IAF Resolution (Agenda Item 6.2) JWG for Guidance to ISO/IEC The General Assembly, acting on the recommendation of the Technical Committee, the Executive Committee and the JCCC, endorsed the draft Terms of Reference of the Joint Working Group (JWG) for Guidance to ISO/IEC IAF Resolution (Agenda Item 6.2) Accreditation of Training Course Providers Given that a training course provider is not a conformity assessment body and so by definition assessment and approval of a training course provider is not accreditation; and given that as ISO/IEC 17011:2004, clause a, states that an accreditation body will not provide any service that affects its impartiality such as those conformity assessment services that Conformity Assessment Bodies (CABs) perform, such as the certification of service providers based on ISO/IEC Guide 65, the General Assembly, acting on the recommendation of the Technical Committee, resolved that accreditation of training course providers is not in conformance with ISO/IEC 17011: Dr Nigel Croft, the ISO 9001 Advisory Group (IAG) Co-chair representing ISO/TC 176, presented the IAG report to the meeting. He explained that the IAG was a multilateral group focusing on issues affecting the credibility of the ISO 9001 standard and had membership from IAF Accreditation Bodies (ABs) and Certification/Registration Body (CRBs) association members, IAF industry members, ISO/TC 176 representatives, ISO/CASCO members, and IPC (formerly IATCA) members. The IAG had recommended the extension of the auditing practices guidance to cover accreditation which had resulted in the formation of the Accreditation Auditing Practices Group (AAPG). The IAG had published a brochure titled "ISO 9001 in the supply chain" which was available from both the ISO and IAF websites. Dr Croft encourage members to provide a link from their own websites to this document. In closing, Dr Croft said that the IAG had been reviewing how to deal with customer complaints and had formed a small subgroup to study this. He referred to the ANAB website which he felt covered complaints very well and recommended members consider providing similar portals on their own websites Dr Thione (SINCERT), the IAF Co-convener of the Auditing Practices Group (APG), provided background to the formation of the APG, and more recently the AAPG. The two groups had met together for two days earlier in the week.

7 Page 7 of 25 The APG had revised two existing papers and drafted a further five papers, some of which were already in their final stage of development. The AAPG had been equally productive and had prepared drafts for four new papers. The Chairman said that the two groups had produced a lot of work in a very short time and recommended that consideration be given to using their outputs in IAF marketing activities. Mr Dougherty commended the groups on their excellent work and very quick production rate. He informed the meeting that translations of the APG documents into Spanish, Japanese and Chinese were now being undertaken Report of the MLA Committee Ms Elva Nilsen (SCC), the IAF Vice Chair, informed the meeting that Mr Xiao Jianhua (CNAB), the Chairman of the MLA Committee, had unfortunately been unable to attend the Annual Meetings and she had chaired the meeting of the MLA Committee instead. The Committee had reviewed its Strategic Directions responsibilities and had noted that good progress had been made during the year with respect to items A5 and A6. The MLA Management Committee (MLA MC) had met in June in Frankfurt and again during the week under the acting chairmanship of Mr Jean-Pierre Jaunin (SAS). The MLA MC had recommended to the MLA Group that OAA (Argentina) should be admitted to the IAF QMS, EMS and Product MLAs. PCA (Poland) had been accepted for membership of the three MLAs earlier in the year via its EA MLA membership. As a result of the acceptance of OAA and PCA into the IAF MLAs, the number of signatories would now be 36 ABs and 2 regional groups for the IAF QMS MLA, 29 ABs and 2 regional groups for the IAF EMS MLA and 23 ABs and 2 regional groups for the IAF Product MLA. Ms Nilsen congratulated the new MLA members. Members adopted the following resolutions: IAF Resolution (Agenda Item 6.2) Report from the Chairman of the MLA Committee - The General Assembly received with appreciation the report from IAF Vice Chair on behalf of the Chairman of the MLA Committee (ref IAF 19 Item 6.2). IAF Resolution (Agenda Item 6.2) New IAF MLA Signatory The General Assembly noted that the IAF MLA Group, on the recommendation of the MLA MC, agreed that OAA (Argentina) should be admitted to the IAF QMS, EMS and Product MLAs. It was also noted that as a consequence of EA MLA membership, PCA (Poland, EA) had been accepted for membership in the IAF MLAs for QMS, EMS and Product earlier in the year. Note: OAA signed the IAF QMS, EMS and Product MLA at a ceremony during the IAF-ILAC Gala Dinner on 17 September PCA signed the MLAs in February The transition to ISO/IEC was continuing with MLA members being required to demonstrate their compliance to this standard by 1 January Peer evaluations were currently being conducted against ISO/IEC A joint IAF-ILAC training workshop for peer evaluators had been held for two days immediately prior to the Annual Meetings. The main topics were the review of ISO/IEC 17011, the A-series documents, good auditing practices and methodologies.

8 Page 8 of The MLA Committee had received proposed terms of reference for the JWG for the Training of Peer Evaluators and the JWG for the Maintenance of the A-Series and had recommended these be approved by the GA. With respect to the IAF MLA Mark, the Mark Licensing Agreement had been revised during the year to allow for licensing of both the EMS and Product MLAs as well as the QMS MLA. There had been a number of queries regarding the use of the MLA Mark for different programs and scopes and the MLA Committee had requested that these be clarified by the IAF Executive Committee. The MLA Committee had recommended that the A-Series documents be updated to crossreference ISO/IEC 17011, for implementation by 1 January The draft document for the IAF P&P issue 4 had been circulated for 60 day comment and during the week the Procedures Subcommittee had reviewed the comments received. The draft had been updated and it was now recommended that it be circulated for 30 day ballot. The draft document for annual operating costs of the IAF MLAs had been revised following comment and would now be circulated to members for information. Members adopted the following resolutions: IAF Resolution (Agenda Item 6.2) JWG for Training of Peer Evaluators - The General Assembly, acting on the recommendation of the MLA Committee, the Executive Committee and the JCCC, endorsed the draft Terms of Reference of the Joint Working Group (JWG) for Training of Peer Evaluators, the proposed composition of the JWG, the disbanding of the existing IAF Training Sub-Committee and the transfer of the existing membership to the JWG. IAF Resolution (Agenda Item 6.2) JWG for Maintenance of the A-Series Documents The General Assembly, acting on the recommendation of the MLA Committee, the Executive Committee and the JCCC, endorsed the draft Terms of Reference of the Joint Working Group (JWG) for Maintenance of the A-Series Documents and the composition of the JWG. IAF Resolution (Agenda Item 6.2) Acceptance of IAF MLAs and Use of IAF MLA Mark - The General Assembly, acting on the recommendation of the MLA Committee, resolved to recommend that the IAF Executive Committee establish a Task Group for the consideration of the open questions regarding the use of the IAF MLA Mark for different programs and scopes and provide clear guidelines for use of the IAF MLA Mark. IAF Resolution (Agenda Item 6.2) A-series Cross-references - The General Assembly, acting on the recommendation of the MLA Committee, resolved that the A-series documents (A1, A2 and A3) be updated to reference ISO/IEC 17011, for implementation by 1 January IAF Resolution (Agenda Item 6.2) IAF P&P Issue 4 The General Assembly, acting on the recommendation of the MLA Committee, resolved that the IAF Policies and Procedures for a Multilateral Recognition Arrangement on the Level of Accreditation Bodies and on the Level of Regional Groups (Issue 4, version 1) be circulated to all IAF Members for approval by 30 day ballot.

9 Page 9 of At the 2004 GA a resolution had been passed that the MLA MC would monitor the implementation of the Cross Frontier Accreditation policy by each MLA signatory. In April and May of this year, the MLA MC in cooperation with the regional MLA Groups, had conducted a survey to determine the implementation status. The results of this survey, together with input from the MLA MC and the MLA Group, had been reviewed by the MLA Committee which had proposed that a date be confirmed by which all foreign critical locations were assessed on-site. Members adopted the following resolution: IAF Resolution (Agenda item 6.2) Implementation of the Cross Frontier Accreditation Policy The General Assembly, acting on the recommendation of the MLA Committee, accepted the report of the Cross Frontier Accreditation Practices Task Group and urged that action be taken to confirm a date by which all foreign critical locations are assessed on-site with results to be reported by the MLA Committee at the 2006 General Assembly At the MLA Group meeting earlier in the week the final terms of reference had been agreed. This had followed an extensive period of consultation and these had now been accepted by the MLA Committee. Members adopted the following resolution: IAF Resolution (Agenda item 6.2) MLA Group Terms of Reference - The General Assembly, acting on the recommendation of the MLA Committee, endorsed the draft Terms of Reference of the MLA Group Ms Nilsen informed the meeting that the IAF MLA MC and the ILAC AMC had been working together for some time to conduct joint evaluations of Regional Accreditation Groups and ABs. At the 2004 GA a resolution had been agreed that this arrangement should be formalised and that the Executives of both IAF and ILAC should consider the establishment of a common structure for the management of the IAF MLAs and ILAC MRA. The MLA Committee had supported a recommendation by the MLA MC which would enable joint meetings to be held with the ILAC AMC to consider evaluations for inspection body accreditations, and joint meetings of the MLA Group and the ILAC Arrangement Council for decisions on approvals for the MLMRA on inspection body accreditation, when this program had become active. Members adopted the following resolution: IAF Resolution (Agenda Item 6.2) Joint Management of the MLA-MRA - The General Assembly resolved - to recommend to ILAC to hold joint meetings of the IAF MLA MC and ILAC AMC, with support by the Secretariats of both the IAF MLA MC and ILAC AMC, to consider evaluations with regard to regional MLA/MRA groups/non-affiliated ABs for the MLMRA on inspection body accreditation (once operational) and to develop a single recommendation for the IAF MLA Group and the ILAC Arrangement Council for inspection body accreditation signatories; - to recommend to ILAC to hold joint meetings of the IAF MLA Group and ILAC Arrangement Council for decisions by the IAF MLA Group and the ILAC Arrangement Council on signatories for the MLMRA on inspection body accreditation (once operational) and non-affiliated ABs;

10 Page 10 of 25 - to recommend to ILAC to hold joint meetings of the IAF MLA MC and ILAC AMC, for the organization and planning of peer evaluations (regional and non-affiliated ABs) for accreditation of other CABs where there are common activities, and to jointly consider common elements of evaluation reports from such evaluations Mr Andersen (DANAK) queried the situation with regard to the Multilateral Cooperative Accreditation Arrangement (MCAA). Ms Nilsen said that the MLA Committee had discussed this a year ago and it had been agreed that it would endeavour to identify the benefits of the MCAA. To assist with this task Members had been invited to provide copies of their own arrangements to the IAF Secretary for posting onto the Members-only side of the website. The MLA Group had also discussed the MCAA and it had been agreed that all agreements would be analysed and feedback provided on the benefits and drawbacks of these. This would be overviewed by the MLA MC. Mr Sutherland (IIOC) commented that if it was to be reviewed by the MLA MC, then this was a closed committee. Ms Nilsen indicated that the MLA MC did have a CRB and an industry representative, but it was likely that a separate task group would be formed with membership being unrestricted Report of the Development Support Committee The GA noted that the report of the Development Support Committee (DSC) would be presented to the Joint General Assemblies by Ms Verónica Garcia de Solórzano on behalf of Mrs Beatrice Mutabazi, the IAF Co-Chair of the Joint Development Support Committee (JDSC), who had been unable to attend the meeting. Members adopted the following resolutions: IAF Resolution (Agenda item 6.3) Development Support Committee - The General Assembly received with appreciation the report from the acting Co-Chair of the Joint Development Support Committee (JDSC), noted the request of the JDSC, and recommended that the results of future surveys conducted by the Cross Frontier Accreditation Practices Task Group be presented to clearly indicate data from developed and developing countries. IAF Resolution (Agenda item 6.3) Development Support Committee - The General Assembly, acting on the recommendation of the JDSC, requests that the MLA Committee be aware that the Cross Frontier Accreditation Policy can also be used for the purpose of training personnel from Accreditation Bodies in developing countries which are not MLA signatories. 7. IAF Open Forum Presentations/Discussions 7.1. IAF Strategic Directions Mr Dougherty (ANAB) reported that as the IAF Co-convener of ISO CASCO WG 21 which was currently developing ISO 17021, he believed that this was fulfilling the charter for close interaction between IAF and ISO. In a number of instances he had responded to inquiries concerning this work that this could only really be done on the basis of a personal view. If an official IAF position was required then it was necessary to submit a discussion paper to the TC. While traditional IAF guidance took some time to prepare and produced a

11 Page 11 of 25 normative document, a new tool was now available via the APG being able to produce documents which were informative and educational It was agreed that each of the main committee Chairs had covered how they intended to meet the objectives of the Strategic Directions in their respective committee reports Customer Satisfaction Task Group (CSTG) Update The Convener of the Task Group, Mr Robert King (ANAB), provided a presentation covering the second customer satisfaction survey carried out during the year, the research goals confirmed by the GA at last year's meeting and the research design which had been used to reduce the cost from US$52,000 down to US$10,000. This survey had been carried out in conjunction with the Regional Accreditation Groups which had distributed the questionnaire to CRBs via their own member ABs. A total of 148 replies had been received compared with 99 in the 2003 survey. Some key results had been that the number of accreditations held by CRBs had dropped since the first survey, CRB satisfaction with their AB had seemed to improve and that dissatisfaction levels had been significantly reduced. There had been a reduction from 90% to 78% in the perceived value of an IAF accreditation mark recognised worldwide. There had been improvement in CRBs overall satisfaction with the progress of ABs in achieving mutual recognition using the IAF MLA. Mr King said that in conclusion the survey indicated that IAF and its members had made progress in a number of areas, with CRBs being more satisfied in general with the IAF and their ABs Mr Sallé (IAAR) commented that members should not lose sight that some 35% of responses were still dissatisfied. There might also be some regional anomalies but he was not sure if this was the case. It was also difficult to compare results with those obtained in Several members felt that it was important to report back to the respondents on the results of the survey and the discussion at the GA. Dr Croft (ISO/TC 176) proposed that the ISO 9000 Advisory Group (IAG) should work with the CSTG to determine ways of getting closer to the customers. The Chairman said that all ABs would be doing something to measure their customers satisfaction and it might be helpful if the data obtained from CRBs could be analysed. Mr Shaw (UKAS) informed the meeting that the TC had heard that a number of major purchasers were not happy with ISO 9001 accredited certification. He felt that if it was not possible to resolve the problem at the root cause level then there was no point in doing further surveys. If it was possible to get this right then purchasers would market accreditation for the ABs. Mr Sutherland (IIOC) said he shared Mr Shaw's views and that the problem with the survey was that it was not looking at the final customer. There was a need for an enhanced reputation in the marketplace for accredited certification and unfortunately it seemed to be gaining a diminished reputation. There was a need to know if the accredited aspect was adding to the attractiveness to the final customer. Mr Venkataraman (NABCB) concurred and said that he had made inquiries with customers and industries and had found many had reported no significant difference in product quality before and after ISO 9001 certification. Dr Croft said that it was crucial that some feedback loop be put in place to ensure that customers were being listened to. Five years ago the automotive industry had expressed concerns with the results of ISO 9001 certification and because not enough was done to rectify this it had walked away from IAF accreditation. He had now heard similar rumblings from the telecommunications industry.

12 Page 12 of A number of members felt that it was not of any real benefit to continue conducting this type of survey. Mr Pina (ENAC) suggested that IAF could provide various questions to the Regional Accreditation Groups on how IAF should enhance its performance and ask them to include these in their own surveys. IAF itself should survey its members as to the service it was providing to them. In response to a proposal to prepare an action plan and communicate this to customers, Mr Craven (JAS-ANZ) stressed that all members made up what IAF was, and everybody needed to be involved in working to overcome these problems. He pointed out that not one comment had been received from members on the Strategic Directions prepared by the IAF Executive. Mr Sallé (IAAR) said that there was a need to invest in exploring the benefits of accreditation; unfortunately nothing had been invested in determining this to date. Mr Béland (CEA) said that he was a real client of IAF who used ISO 9001 accredited certification and he himself was not particularly happy with the results being produced. This was why he had become involved in the Auditing Practices Group. He felt that the ABs needed to get more feedback information from the CRBs and their direct clients. He offered to be involved with a small group to help clarify the problem and propose some actions. The Chairman thanked Mr Béland and it was agreed to form a small group to focus on the concerns expressed and report to the final session of the GA. It was agreed that this group would consist of 2 industry representatives, 2 ABs, 2 CRBs and Dr Croft from ISO/TC Transition for ISO/IEC It was agreed that this had been covered in Agenda Item 6.3 and by Resolution Cross Frontier Accreditation Policy Implementation The GA discussed concerns associated with bilateral agreements and disenchantment by some members with being subcontracted to foreign ABs. It was suggested that what was needed instead was a spirit of cooperation which was not always evident. The Chairman indicated that it had been felt experience should be gained with the different types of arrangements which could be made before making any definite proposals. He suggested that perhaps in the next year or so consideration might be given to including the necessary arrangements in the MLA itself, which would then confirm that all MLA signatories were equal. Mr Dougherty (ANAB) indicated that his organisation did not have the resources to immediately visit the 350 to 400 critical locations which had been identified. These were being prioritised but some in effect would not be getting any oversight at all. If he had to rely on bilateral arrangements he had calculated that it would require something in the order of 2025 agreements. The Chairman said that as he had indicated in his report to the GA there was a need to reach agreement on the amount of witness audits and the definition of auditor competence Status of MLA Mark Registration and Application Mr Tom Arnold (IAAR), the Chairman of the Procedures Subcommittee, handed out IAF lapel badges showing the shape and the letters IAF, as an example of the entity being registered as the IAF logo/mla Mark. It was intended that by not including words in the surround this would provide greater flexibility in its application. Registration applications

13 Page 13 of 25 had been made in some 57 countries, primarily using the Madrid and CTM systems (European Community trademark system). Forty-three countries had issued public notification of the registration, while 14 more were still pending. Mr Arnold said that while the process was slow very good progress was being made. The Chairman thanked Mr Arnold for his excellent work in protecting the Mark Future Annual Meetings The Chairman explained that the IAF-ILAC Joint Committee for Closer Cooperation (JCCC) had been considering the annual meeting schedule and whether this could be improved to provide greater participation and better opportunities for involvement by more members. The discussion would be taken at the Joint General Assemblies on the following day. A survey had been conducted of all IAF and ILAC members to determine their views. The results had indicated that there was no support for separating the IAF and ILAC Annual Meetings (option 1), some support for holding the GAs and the JGA together with core meetings (option 2) and some support for the retention of the existing meeting program but with the GAs and JGA held prior to other meetings (option 3). Ms Nilsen (SCC) said that the options had been identified by the JCCC and these had been referred to the respective main committee chairs for feedback. The intention of option 3 was that there would not be any committee meetings held immediately prior to the GA which would produce resolutions. Resolutions would be based on decisions made at prior meetings held separately. Whatever was decided it was not planned that any new meeting structure would be implemented prior to The IAF and ILAC Secretariats would be preparing a paper on the rotation of Annual Meetings and arrangements to be provided by host countries. IAF would be involved in taking some of the risk of hosting future meetings and in this respect would be able to better influence such factors as registration fees and the cost of social events Issues for discussion at the Joint General Assemblies The Chairman said that the JCCC had proposed that IAF and ILAC should jointly proceed to develop a global Multilateral Mutual Recognition Arrangement (MLMRA) for inspection. The JWG on Inspection had prepared a draft of the appropriate text which would be circulated to both IAF and ILAC members for 60 day comment. The JCCC had also accepted a basis for the fee structure for inspection bodies which would be introduced into the IAF and ILAC budgets for the year following the decision to start the implementation of the MLMRA for inspection. Members adopted the following resolutions: IAF Resolution (Agenda item 7) Inspection MLMRA - The General Assembly, acting on the recommendation of the JCCC, resolved to proceed with a global Multilateral Mutual Recognition Arrangement (MLMRA) for inspection jointly with ILAC. IAF Resolution (Agenda item 7) Inspection MLMRA - The General Assembly, acting on the recommendation of the JCCC, resolved to encourage the JWG for Inspection to reach consensus on the technical issues under debate and looks forward to a resolution of these matters at the Cancun meeting, November 2006.

14 Page 14 of 25 IAF Resolution (Agenda item 7) Inspection MLMRA - The General Assembly, acting on the recommendation of the JCCC, resolved that the draft of the IAF-ILAC MLMRA Inspection text, be circulated to all IAF Members for 60 day comment. IAF Resolution (Agenda item 7) Inspection Body Fees - The General Assembly, acting on the recommendation of the JCCC, resolved that the fee structure for accreditation of Inspection bodies would be introduced into the budgets of IAF and ILAC for the calendar year following the formal decision to start the process of implementing the IAF-ILAC MLMRA for Inspection. IAF Resolution (Agenda Item 7) IAF Open Forum The General Assembly received with appreciation the presentations and status reports provided by Committee Chairmen and Conveners on the IAF Strategic Directions, Customer Satisfaction Task Group, transition for ISO/IEC 17011, Cross Frontier Accreditation Policy implementation, status of the IAF MLA Mark registration and applications and Future Annual meetings. Meeting adjourned at 5.15 PM. Meeting reconvened at 8.30 AM, Monday, 19 September The Big Issue Mr Gilles Béland (CEA) gave a brief presentation on some of the initial thoughts which had come from the Task Group formed at the GA Open Forum session on customer satisfaction. He indicated that the group felt that the major problem was not customer satisfaction within the IAF/AB/CRB chain, it was the satisfaction of collective customers or purchasers. ISO 9001 certification was not delivering. Four key topics had been identified which were accountability to end users, focus on outcome, creating the environment and the infrastructure to make it happen and demonstrating that it worked. The Task Group would prepare a discussion paper for the IAF Strategic Planning meeting in November. The Chairman thanked the Task Group for its very useful input and welcomed further proposals. He invited other Members to provide input and comment to the Task Group and to the IAF Executive for the November meeting. 8. International Liaisons 8.1. ISO As the ISO report was relevant to both IAF and ILAC it had been presented by the ISO/CASCO Secretary, Mr Dennehy, to the Joint IAF-ILAC General Assemblies (JGA) meeting on 18 September.

15 Page 15 of The Chairman referred to the presentation which had been made at the JGA by the Chairman of the IEC Conformity Assessment Board (IEC CAB) in which it had been indicated the IEC CAB welcomed the opportunity to initiate cooperation with IAF and to explore how the two organisations could work together. In response to a comment that IEC did not meet the requirements of ISO/IEC 17011, the Chairman said he could not explain the IEC position exactly at this stage, but it should be possible to look at producing a common technical understanding. He stressed that IAF would remain an organisation of third party ABs Dr Nigel Croft, the ISO/TC 176 liaison representative to IAF, presented the ISO/TC 176 report on behalf of the ISO/TC 176 Committee. He explained that ISO was a decentralised organisation, basically being a Federation of 148 national standards bodies. ISO/TC 176 was ISO's largest committee with ISO 9001 being ISO's flagship standard. ISO/TC 176 was participating in the work of IAF as it had a commitment to ensure that the credibility of the standard was maintained. Key activities being undertaken by ISO/TC 176 were the implementation of a strategic plan to adopt a process approach for the development of standards, working closely with ISO/TC 207 on the alignment of ISO 9001 and ISO and the preparation of interpretations to ISO 9001, with over fifty having been completed to date. ISO/TC 176 consisted of three subcommittees. SC 1 had recently produced a new edition of ISO SC 2 was starting an amendment to ISO 9001 and a revision of ISO It was hoped that the new ISO 9004 might be used as a stepping stone to help organisations to go beyond conformity assessment towards business excellence. SC 3 had recently considered a new work item on managing people aspects in quality management and was also working on a guidance document on customer service The report on CASCO activities had been presented by the CASCO Secretary, Mr Dennehy, to the Joint IAF-ILAC General Assemblies meeting International Personnel Certification Association (IPC) Mr Iain Muir, the Vice Chairman of IPC, presented a report on recent developments and future directions for IPC. At the end of December 2004 IATCA had ceased to exist being replaced by the International Personnel Certification Association (IPC), with its Secretariat in Greece. Full membership of IPC would only be personnel Certification Bodies (CBs) as per ISO Membership would not be limited to management system auditor CBs. MLA members would be only those member bodies accredited by an IAF member to ISO and an IPC approved scheme. Associate members would be those organisations concerned with personnel certification and training. IPC had been granted category A liaison status by ISO/TC 176. All full members of IPC would have to be accredited by an IAF member by September 2006 and new competency-based criteria had been approved early in 2005, with a three-year transition period. Mr Muir said that IPC had been very pleased to receive the news in August that it had been accepted for membership of IAF and was looking forward to being an active member and contributing to IAF s work. The first IPC Congress would be held in Athens in August 2006 and IAF members would be most welcome. The Chairman congratulated IPC on the successful transfer to its new structure and to achieving membership of IAF.

16 Page 16 of Telecommunications Industry, QuEST Forum The report on the QuEST Forum activities, which was circulated prior to the meeting as GA19_83, was received with appreciation by the General Assembly Aerospace Industry Mr Norbert Borzek (TGA), the IAF liaison representative to the International Aerospace Quality Group (IAQG) gave an overview of the IAQG formation, its structure and operations. The IAQG presently had nine recognised ABs covering three regions, with 3 ABs in the Americas, 1 AB in Asia and 5 ABs in Europe. The exchange of experience of ABs dealt with impartiality, differences in national approach, frequently arising problems and frequently asked questions. The AB meetings had resulted in an harmonised approach for the aerospace accreditation scheme and an agreed summary of discussions. The next meeting would take place in Canada in October. In response to a query it was confirmed that there were no plans at this stage to prepare an international standard for management systems in the aerospace industry. Mr Dougherty (ANAB) said that the aerospace industry did currently refer to the IAF guidance and then added additional requirements of its own. Some discussion had taken place regarding membership of IAF but nothing firm had resulted at this stage Food Industry No report was received from the GFSI (Global Food Safety Initiative) Accreditation in other Industry Sectors No further reports on accreditation in other industry sectors were presented to the General Assembly Other Liaisons No further liaison reports were presented to the General Assembly. Members adopted the following resolution: IAF Resolution (Agenda Item 8) Liaison Reports to IAF The General Assembly received with appreciation the following liaison reports: - ISO/TC 176 report presented on behalf of the Chairman of ISO/TC 176 (ref IAF 19 - Item 8.1.1); - ISO CASCO report presented on behalf of the Chairman of ISO CASCO (ref IAF 19 - Item 8.1.2); - IPC report presented on behalf of the Chairman of IPC (ref IAF 19 Item 8.2); - QuEST Forum liaison report as received (ref IAF 19 - Item 8.3); and - IAQG liaison report as presented (ref IAF 19 Item 8.4).

17 Page 17 of Report by the Treasurer (deferred from earlier in the agenda) The Treasurer, Mr Robert King, introduced the audited financial statement for the IAF Year 2004 Accounts. He informed the meeting that the financial auditor had not identified any irregularities. The meeting noted the independent auditor s management letter to the IAF Board of Directors and IAF Accounts for Members adopted the following resolution: IAF Resolution (Agenda Item 5.2.1) Treasurer s Report on the Financial Operations of IAF in The General Assembly received with appreciation the report by the Treasurer on the Financial Affairs of IAF and the Report of the Financial Auditor on the Financial Operations of IAF, December 31, 2004 as circulated and presented Mr Pierre Sallé (IAAR), the Chairman of the Finance Oversight Committee (FOC) informed the GA that as he had been elected as the new Director representing Certification/Registration/Inspection Body Association Members he would be stepping down as Chairman of the FOC in order to ensure its independence. Mr Sallé said that the 2004 expenditure had exceeded the budget by approximately US $25,000 or around 8% of the budget. In referring to the documents for the Structure of IAF (IAF-GM ) and Rules for IAF Membership Fees (IAF PL 4:2004) he indicated that the rules did not presently allow the Board to approve excess expenditure. The main reason for this occurring was due to the appreciation of the US dollar against the Australian dollar and the consequent exchange rate cost increase. He suggested that the Board should have rules for dealing with situations such as this. He felt that the 8% variance was a reasonable result. The Chairman thanked the FOC for its review and Mr Sallé for his work as Chairman. Mr Andersen (DANAK) had agreed to accept the chairmanship of the FOC and Mr Béland (CEA) had agreed to become a member of the Committee. Mr Iguchi (JAB) had indicated his willingness to continue as a member of the FOC. Members adopted the following resolutions: IAF Resolution (Agenda Item 5.2.3) Report of the Financial Oversight Committee - The General Assembly received with appreciation the report of the Financial Oversight Committee (ref IAF 19 Item 5.2.2), as circulated and endorsed the recommendation that the 2004 financial accounts be accepted. IAF Resolution (Agenda Item 5.2.3) Membership of the Financial Oversight Committee - The Annual Meeting resolved to appoint Mr Vagn Andersen (DANAK), Mr Shinichi Iguchi (JAB) and Mr Gilles Béland (CEA) to be members of the Financial Oversight Committee for the complete years of 2006 and The Treasurer introduced the report on the financial accounts for the period 1 January to 31 July Members adopted the following resolution: IAF Resolution (Agenda Item 5.2.4) Treasurer s Report on the Financial Operations of IAF in The General Assembly received with appreciation the report by the Treasurer on the financial affairs of IAF for the period 1 January to 31 July 2005 as circulated and presented.

18 Page 18 of The Treasurer explained that the original deficit budgeted for 2006 had been US $82,000. Over the last three years many members, particularly those in Europe, had experienced a considerable reduction in the real cost of their membership fees due to significant increases in the value of their currencies against the US dollar. In some instances this had been as high as 52%. Similarly the cost of converting US dollars into Australian dollars had also increased significantly. The Treasurer said that rather than attempt to increase fees to recoup the deficit of US $82,000 in one year, the Board had felt it would not be unreasonable to propose an increase in membership fees of 10%. Mr Van der Poel (RvA) suggested that if members paid their fees to IAF in Australian dollars then this might help reduce the currency costs being experienced. Other members queried whether this year's budget would include a levy for inspection accreditations, but the Chairman advised that this would not be implemented until the year after the inspection MLA had become operational (refer to Resolution ). Some members felt that the description "other" in the budget was not particularly clear and it was suggested it might be better to refer to it as "currency differentials". The Board was requested to consider whether operating in Australian dollars might overcome some of the exchange rate difficulties, and if not, to investigate whether there might be other means, such as "hedging", which could be utilised. Members adopted the following resolution: IAF Resolution (Agenda Item 5.2.4) IAF Budget for The General Assembly, approved the IAF Budget for 2006 as submitted and modified by the Treasurer, directed the Board to send invoices for membership fees for 2006 based upon the revised budget amount, in accordance with the Membership Fees Rules (ref IAF PL4:2004 Issue 3), and requested the Treasurer to explore means for protecting IAF against currency exchange risks. 9 Election of Directors 9.1 The Chairman informed the meeting that Mr Dale Misczynski, Director representing the Industry and User Association Members, had resigned at the beginning of 2005 due to business commitments. The Board had appointed Mr Guenther Beer (BDI) as Mr Misczynski s replacement for the period until the next GA. In accordance with the IAF Bylaws nominations had been sought for this position with Mr Beer indicating he would be prepared to serve for a full term. No other nominations had been received and it gave him great pleasure to announce that Mr Beer had been elected unopposed as Director representing the Industry and User Association Members for a three-year period. The Chairman explained that the term of office of Mr Sandy Sutherland (IIOC), Director representing Certification/ Registration/Inspection Body Association Members, had concluded at this General Assembly. The Secretary informed the meeting that nominations for this position had been requested with three nominations being received. In accordance with the IAF Bylaws an election had been held. Mr Pierre Sallé (IAAR) had been the successful candidate. Members adopted the following resolution:

19 Page 19 of 25 IAF Resolution (Agenda Item 9) Election of Directors - The General Assembly congratulated the following Directors on their election: Mr Guenther Beer (BDI) elected unopposed as Director representing the Industry and User Association Members, for a three year term ending at the 2008 Annual Meeting. Mr Pierre Sallé (IAAR) elected as Director representing Certification/Registration/ Inspection Body Association Members, for a three year term ending at the 2008 Annual Meeting. Notes: 1. Dr Thomas Facklam (DAR) will complete his term as Chairman at the 2006 Annual Meeting. 2. Ms Elva Nilsen (SCC) will complete her term as Vice Chair at the 2007 Annual Meeting. 3. Mr Anthony Craven (JAS-ANZ) will complete his term as Director representing Accreditation Body Members located in a high income economy, as designated by the World Bank, at the 2006 Annual Meeting. 4. Mr Girdhar Gyani (NABCB) will complete his term as Director representing Accreditation Body Members located in a low and medium income economy, as designated by the World Bank, at the 2007 Annual Meeting. Presentations were made to Mr Sutherland for his contribution to IAF in serving two terms of office as the Director representing Certification/ Registration/Inspection Body Association and to Ms Verónica Garcia de Solórzano (ema), the former Director representing Accreditation Body Members located in low and medium income economies, whose term of office had concluded at the 2004 General Assembly. 10 Other Business 10.1 The Secretary reported that there had been no submissions received from Members and no other matters for discussion had been raised. 11 Review of Resolutions 11.1 Confirmation of the text of Resolutions The draft Resolutions were reviewed by the meeting. Comments were expressed with regard to draft Resolutions , and As a result of discussions these were amended to the satisfaction of the members present and approved. Secretarial Note: The resolutions recorded in these minutes are the final approved Resolutions The Chairman confirmed with the Secretary that a draft Communiqué would be prepared and circulated to members for information as soon as possible after the meeting.

20 Page 20 of Annual Meetings 12.1 Future Annual Meetings The Chairman referred to the discussion which had taken place at the JGA concerning the proposed changes to the meeting program of future IAF-ILAC Annual Meetings. While there had been a significant number of complaints expressed over the years about the length of time of the Annual Meetings and that the GA and JGA agendas could be amended to produce a better use of time, in the end it had been found that there were conflicting requirements and the majority of members had felt it would be better to stay with the existing meeting schedule. The JGA had proposed that this should be retained in its present form for a period of approximately five years. The document covering the basis for determining future meeting locations and hosting requirements would still be prepared and would be reviewed by the JCCC at its June meeting. Dr Croft queried whether it might be possible to select a specific timeslot for the IAF-ILAC Annual Meetings which could be used each year. This would enable better planning by other groups which interacted with IAF. The Chairman thanked Dr Croft for this suggestion but indicated it was not always possible to do this as the exact timing of meetings depended upon arrangements made by the host member, possibly based upon availability of hotels as well as other events in that country. In setting the date for the 2006 Annual Meetings notice had already been taken of the proposed dates for the 2006 ISO General Assembly and the 2006 CASCO Plenary Annual Meeting, Auckland, New Zealand On behalf of IAF, the Chairman thanked International Accreditation New Zealand (IANZ) the host for the 2005 Annual Meeting. The meeting facilities, the staff support and the hospitality had all been excellent and he was sure that all members had very much enjoyed their stay in Auckland. Members adopted the following resolution: IAF Resolution (Agenda Item 12) 2005 Annual Meetings The General Assembly expressed its appreciation for the excellent arrangements and support provided by IANZ as host of the IAF Nineteenth Annual Meetings, from 12 to 19 September 2005, in Auckland, New Zealand Annual Meeting The Chairman reminded members of the agreement made at the 2004 General Assembly to accept the invitation from ema to host the joint IAF-ILAC Annual Meetings in The Chairman thanked ema for its kind invitation. At the JGA agreement had also been reached to accept the invitation from JAS-ANZ and NATA to host the 2007 joint Annual Meetings in Australia. The members adopted the following resolution IAF Resolution (Agenda Item 12.2) Invitation for the 2006 Annual Meetings - The General Assembly accepted with appreciation the invitation by ema to host the 2006 Annual Meetings in Cancun, Mexico, from 6 to 14 November, 2006, in association with the ILAC General Assembly.