Reinaldo Figueiredo, Senior Program Director at the ANSI National Accreditation Board (ANAB) has been elected as Chair of the ISO Committee on Conformity Assessment (ISOCASCO) for the 2020 to 2021 term. ISO CASCO, which develops standards and addresses issues related to conformity assessment, counts 108 participating national member bodies and 34 observer members, as well as bringing together industry representatives, intergovernmental agencies and regulators.

Reinaldo, who has had a long involvement with IAF and accreditation, will serve as the Convenor of the ISO CASCO Chairman’s Policy and Coordination Group (CPC), member of the Strategic Alliance and Regulator Group (STAR), and as Chair of the annual CASCO plenary as well as an observer in the ISO Council. He will also be a member of the ISO/IAF/ILAC Joint Strategic Group (JSG).

Reinaldo will be responsible for guiding the strategic direction of CASCO whilst ensuring that it is aligned to the key themes of ISO Strategy 2030. A leading ambition will be for CASCO to work in collaboration with global quality infrastructure partners, such as IAF, to demonstrate the value and benefits of ISO based standards. CASCO will also seek to broaden input into the standards development process to ensure that standards are meeting market need. As well as working closelywith partners, Reinaldo will be reaching out to National Standards Body Mirror Committees to be more inclusive and to broaden industry sectors, intergovernmental and regulatory interaction with CASCO to identify relevant conformity assessment needs and issues.

Looking forward, Reinaldo is keen to ensure that ISO CASCO remains relevant and adapts to technological advances, and so will start to examine the fundamental principles of conformity assessment in the context of new technology applications such as blockchain, sensors and AI. This will also involve exploring how conformity assessment can support the quality assurance of these new technologies, and potential changes in assessment methodologies and the identification of different delivery methods.

“I am delighted and honoured to take up this prestigious appointment”, said Reinaldo. “I look forward to working with CASCO members and key stakeholders to ensure that we continue to develop standards in a timely manner that are relevant, add value and are widely recognised”.