The International Accreditation Forum (IAF) held its 37th General Assembly (GA) during the 2023 Joint IAF-ILAC Annual Meetings held from 06-15 November in Montreal, Canada. The meeting was led by IAF Chair Emanuele Riva, who reported on key initiatives including the One Organization Project, IAF CertSearch, the advocacy role of IAF, and IAF’s role in supporting sustainability.

He announced that a multi-year contract with Axis Mundi had been signed for the provision of future IAF, ILAC and New Body secretariat services beginning 01 January 2024. The role of IAF Secretary has now been assumed by Victor Gandy, whose years of service as Inter-American Accreditation Cooperation (IAAC) Secretary position him well to manage the IAF Secretariat as IAF and ILAC continue working towards the formation of the New Body.

Committee Highlights

IAF Technical Committee (TC) Chair Kevin Belson reported that the TC was monitoring the status of key standards that were undergoing or about to undergo systematic review, and reviewing the IAF process for identifying/approving IAF liaisons to better support IAF members providing input. The TF Audit Time was rethinking and re-defining the process for audit time calculation. 

Kylie Sheehan, IAF MLA Committee (MLAC) Chair, noted that twelve new sector schemes had been approved as IAF MLA sub-scopes since the last GA. MLAC goals moving forward included reviewing IAF PL 3 Policies and Procedures on the IAF MLA Structure and for Expansion of the Scope of the IAF MLA in relation to the timeliness of scheme recognition and scheme criteria, and exploring the acceptance of accredited certificates globally and the need for further collaboration amongst accreditation bodies.

Database Management Committee (DMC) Chair Rajesh Maheshwari provided an update on IAF CertSearch, noting the publication of IAF MD 28: IAF Mandatory Document for the Upload and Maintenance of Data on IAF Database. Over 1360 accredited certification bodies are currently participating in IAF CertSearch. IT service provider Quality Trade had held sessions with numerous users, including corporates, government regulators, procurement agencies and ESG rating agencies, on the use of IAF CertSearch, and had conducted a range of pilots to prepare users for API integration of their databases.

Matt Gantley, Sustainability Working Group (WG) Convener, noted that the WG had published a joint statement on sustainability assurance and a position paper on corporate sustainability information. The WG had been collaborating with many other organizations on sustainability-related activities, including ISO/CASCO, the United Nations Development Programme, Danish Standards, the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants, the Integrity Council for Voluntary Carbon Markets, and the Voluntary Carbon Markets Initiative.

New Members, Signatories and Chairs

IAF Members welcomed new members Jamaica National Agency for Accreditation (JANAAC) and Kyrgyz Centre for Accreditation (KCA), and congratulated new IAF MLA signatories and recipients of scope extensions. They thanked Peter Kronvall (outgoing Accreditation Body Information Exchange Group [ABIEG] Co-Chair and Director Representing High Income Economy Accreditation Body Members) and Marcus Long (outgoing Conformity Assessment Body Advisory Committee [CABAC] Chair and Director Representing CAB Association Members) for their service to IAF, as well as Emmanouil Geneiatakis, who resigned his position as User Advisory Committee (UAC) Chair at the end of 2022. The GA also marked the end of Pedro Alves’s service as IAF Treasurer, but the beginning of his term as IAF CABAC Chair and Director Representing CAB Association Members. Other new appointees include Wolfram Hartmann, elected as ABIEG Co-Chair / Director Representing High Income Economy Accreditation Body Members, and Warren Merkel, elected as IAF Treasurer.

For a full list of resolutions adopted at the GA, click here.

To view interviews with committee chairs, conveners and IAF member representatives recorded during the Montreal meetings, click here.