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PUBLISHDATE: Tuesday, August 29, 2017 |
PUBLISHTIME: 12:00 AM |
This year, ILAC is celebrating their 40 Year Anniversary.
ILAC first started as a conference, which was held on the 24th to 28th of October 1977 in Copenhagen, Denmark. ILAC was established with the aim of developing international cooperation for facilitating trade, by promoting the acceptance of accredited test and calibration results.
Some of the significant milestones that have cemented ILAC’s global role in promoting accreditation include:
- Amsterdam 1996 – ILAC became a formal cooperation with a charter to establish a network of mutual recognition arrangements among accreditation bodies
- Gaithersburg 1997 – ILAC held their first General Assembly
- In 2000, 36 of ILAC’s Full Members comprised of laboratory accreditation bodies from 28 economies worldwide, signed the ILAC Mutual Recognition Arrangement (MRA) in Washington DC. This aimed to promote the acceptance of test and calibration data for exported goods. This MRA came into effect on 31 January 2001
- Kyoto 2001 – ILAC and the International Accreditation Forum (IAF) began formalising their cooperation by holding their first combined General Assembly
- ILAC became officially incorporated on the 3rd of January 2003 in the Netherlands, Amsterdam
- On 9 June 2009, the IAF and ILAC first celebrated International Accreditation Day, now known and widely celebrated each year as World Accreditation Day
- October 2012, the ILAC MRA was extended to include the accreditation of inspection bodies
ILAC’s growth and development has been significant as there are now 92 signatories (Full Members) to the Arrangement, representing 95 economies and with over 57,000 laboratories and 8,800 inspection bodies currently accredited by these Full Members.
As ILAC celebrates 40 years of growth and success, ILAC is also looking forward to continuing to develop and support trade, regulators and the health and environment in the general community through accreditation, with goals such as the extension of the ILAC MRA to include PTP and RMP accreditation.