In This Issue.......

General Updates, Notices & Press Releases

-  A2LA Welcomes New Staff 
-  Acceptable Sources of Sodium Chloride for ASTM B117 
-  A2LA Assessor Honored at 2006 NCSLI Workshop and Symposium
-  ACLASS Recognition
-  Remembering Dave Walton

Meeting Summaries

-  AOAC International Annual Meeting and Expo  
-  2006 NCSLI Workshop and Symposium  
-  2006 IEEE EMC Symposium  
-  NELAC/INELA Highlights  
-  A2LA Aerospace Advisory Committee Meeting Summary  
-  Food Safety Symposium

Updates on A2LA Operations & Policies

-  New & Updated Documents  
-  New Applications of ISO/IEC 17025 Requirements

International Activities and Updates

-  APLAC Conference in Taipei  
-  One Test One Accreditation Accepted Everywhere  
-  EA Bilateral Continues  
-  MRA Success Stories

A2LA Welcomes New Staff

A2LA recently hired four additional Laboratory Services Officers. 

Ray Minnick joined A2LA in August 2006.  Ray is a certified clinical laboratory technologist and comes to us with an extensive background in the healthcare field.  He served as a laboratory manager for a hospital-based clinical laboratory, a bloodbank supervisor and also a hospital corpsman in the United States Navy.  Ray has earned a B.S. and an M.B.A. in healthcare management from Mount Saint Mary’s College and will be working with A2LA in the developing medical laboratory accreditation program.

Matthew Torres also joined A2LA in August 2006.   Prior to joining A2LA, Matthew received his B.S degree in chemistry and B.A. degree in international studies from Yale University in 2001.  After that he moved on to gain experience in enzyme and radioligand assay development for the pharmaceutical industry and mechanical testing with an A2LA-accredited plastics laboratory. 

Elizabeth Carbonella joined A2LA in November 2006.  Beth has prior customer service experience and was a high school math teacher for three years.  She has a B.A. in mathematics from Eastern University and has earned her teaching certificate in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Brian Conner also joined A2LA in November 2006.  Prior to joining A2LA, Brian was a fluidcare site manager for Houghton International and a research engineer for National Gypsum Co.  He has a B.S. in chemical engineering from the University of Rochester and an M.S. in chemical engineering from West Virginia University.

A2LA welcomes Ray, Matthew, Beth and Brian into its growing family.

Acceptable Source of Sodium Chloride in ASTM B117-03 Testing Identified

Laboratories having trouble meeting the stringent sodium chloride requirements in ASTM B117-03 (for salt spray testing) now have more guidance on how to find an appropriate substance to use.  Thanks to the recent distribution of an ASTM committee letter on this topic, Morton’s® Culinox® 999® salt has been identified as an acceptable source. 

The letter was issued on January 31, 2005 by Mr. Kevin A. Smith, Chairman of the ASTM G01.05.03.01 task group for ASTM B117 “Standard Practice for Operating Salt Spray (FOG) Apparatus”.  Special thanks goes to Mr. Smith for his permission to reprint his letter in A2LA News. 

For further information on the acceptance of Morton’s® Culinox® 999® salt in ASTM B117 testing, please contact Adam Gouker, A2LA Laboratory Services Officer, at 301 644 3217 or .

A2LA Assessor Honored at 2006 NCSLI Annual Workshop and Symposium

Recognition of ACLASS

On September 13, 2006, ACLASS (Assured Calibration and Laboratory Accreditation Select Services) signed the APLAC (Asia-Pacific Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation) mutual recognition arrangement (MRA) for both calibration and testing.  As a result of signing the APLAC MRA, ACLASS also automatically progresses to full membership within ILAC (International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation) for testing and calibration.

On August 11, 2006, ACLASS also signed the IAAC (Inter-American Accreditation Cooperation) MRA for both testing and calibration.

As a result of their newly achieved signatory status within IAAC and APLAC, A2LA now recognizes, for the purposes of meeting the A2LA Policy on Measurement Traceability, calibration laboratories accredited by ACLASS as of 8/11/06.

If you have questions concerning the acceptability of any accredited calibration laboratory, please contact A2LA.

Remembering David Walton

David H. Walton, 58, passed away on August 28, 2006 at his home in Holland, MI.  He was born in Evanston, IL and was raised in Bangor, MI, where he graduated from Bangor High School.  Dave received a B.S. degree from Michigan State University and a M.B.A. degree from Western Michigan University.

Dave moved to Holland, MI in 1985 and was employed with Haworth, Inc. until his retirement in 2002.  At Haworth, he was the Reliability (Test Lab) Manager, Quality Manager and New Product Development Model Shop Manager, and was instrumental in leading the efforts of the testing laboratory to achieve A2LA accreditation and UL (Underwriters Laboratories) client test data system approval.

In 2002, Dave joined the A2LA assessor corps and assessed testing laboratories in the furniture and automotive mechanical areas.  He also started a management consulting firm after retirement from Haworth, Inc., and served as an adjunct professor for Western Michigan University, Grand Valley State University and University of Phoenix online, teaching courses in operations management, project management and leadership.

Dave was recognized internationally as an expert in BIFMA (Business and Institutional Furniture Manufacturer’s Association) and CGSB (Canadian General Standards Board) standards.  He was certified by ASQ (American Society for Quality) as a quality engineer and reliability engineer, and was an RAB (Registrar Accreditation Board) auditor.  He was also an active member of BIFMA and ASTM.

Dave is survived by his wife of 28 years, Katherine, and two daughters: Kimberly Walton of Ann Arbor, MI and Beth Walton of Kalamazoo, MI.  Memorials may be made to Karmanos Cancer Center or First United Methodist Church of Holland, MI, where Dave was a member.

AOAC International Annual Meeting and Exposition

Phillip Smith, A2LA Business Development Manager, and Roger Brauninger, A2LA Senior Laboratory Services Officer, attended the 120th AOAC International Annual Meeting and Exposition held September 17 - 21, 2006 in Minneapolis, MN.  A2LA was one of the 58 organizations present at the exposition.  The symposium included a variety of topics addressing issues important to the food and pharmaceutical industries.  Among the features at this year's conference was a symposium, "The Role of Metrology in Ensuring Food Safety and Trade", chaired by Dr. Marie Walsh, President of AOAC International. This session tackled the difficulties with traceability of reference materials in the life science environment and its importance.

2006 NCSLI Annual Workshop and Symposium

The National Conference of Standards Laboratories International (NCSLI) Annual Workshop and Symposium was held in Nashville, TN from August 6-10, 2006.  A2LA was represented by Roxanne Robinson, Phil Smith, Dana Leaman and Tim Rasinski.    A2LA, once again, presented a tutorial on the requirements of ISO/IEC 17025 with particular focus this year on the implementation of the requirements by laboratories.  A similar tutorial is slated for presentation again at next year’s conference in St. Paul, MN, which is scheduled from July 29 – August 2, 2007. 

Thanks to those who stopped by the A2LA booth with questions regarding our accreditation programs.  For inquiries or questions regarding the accreditation programs offered by A2LA, please contact A2LA headquarters at 301 664 3248 or visit us on the web at: http://www.a2la.org/. 

We hope to see you in St. Paul!

2006 IEEE EMC Symposium

Once again A2LA attended the IEEE Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) Symposium held in “The Rose City”, Portland, OR.  The show ran from August 14-18, 2006 at Portland’s Convention Center with Trace McInturff and Brad Moore representing A2LA.  This year’s Symposium provided a platform for a large number of manufacturers and industries to showcase their newest technologies within the world of EMC.  Thanks to all who took the time to stop by the A2LA exhibit and inquire about our accreditation programs, specifically attaining information on how to use accreditation to highlight a laboratory’s standard of excellence. 

For inquiries or questions regarding the accreditation programs offered by A2LA, please contact A2LA headquarters at 301 664 3248 or visit us on the web at:  http://www.a2la.org/. 
Stop by and visit our exhibit next year at the 2007 IEEE EMC Symposium, July 8-13, 2007, at the Honolulu Convention Center, Honolulu, Hawaii.  We look forward to seeing you there.

NELAC/INELA HIGHLIGHTS

A2LA attended the Forum on Laboratory Accreditation held in Overland Park, KS the week of August 14, 2006. The Forum brought together the National Environmental Laboratory Accreditation Conference (NELAC) and the Institute for National Environmental Laboratory Accreditation (INELA) during a shared week of meetings.

A2LA participates in the Forum on Laboratory Accreditation with the aim of helping to encourage the use of international standards and the acceptance of A2LA accreditation programs. Additionally A2LA seeks to support environmental accreditation at the state and national level by facilitating a streamlined approach for entities that are required to hold multiple accreditations.

NELAC Self-Sufficiency

The conference began with the NELAC sessions.  The prevailing themes of the sessions were self-sufficiency and re-organization.  One goal of the NELAC program is to be self-sufficient and not rely extensively on EPA funding and support.  This session marked the last instance in which the EPA will provide support in the director position.  Consequently, a significant amount of time was devoted to discussing the restructuring of the organization to support self-sufficiency.  The most favorable plan was to rejoin the NELAC and INELA groups.  In order for this to occur discussions centered around developing a timeframe defining the organization’s structure and new Board of Directors, as well as creating a new name. At the conclusion of the NELAC meeting, the government officials in attendance overwhelmingly confirmed that the NELAC Board of Directors should continue to work with INELA on pursuing options for working together.

NELAC PT Forum

The NELAC sessions also included the NELAC PT (proficiency testing) Forum. This session provided laboratories, accreditation bodies and accrediting authorities, proficiency testing providers and other stakeholders in the proficiency testing community an opportunity to have their views heard.

A2LA reported on our inaugural year as a NELAC Proficiency Testing Oversight Body / Proficiency Testing Provider Accreditor (PTOB/PTPA). The presentation provided an account of the accreditation of the first group of proficiency testing providers that were granted accreditation on July 31, 2006 under our A2LA NELAC Proficiency Testing Provider Accreditation Program. Attendees were reminded to routinely monitor our website by going to http://www.a2la.org/dirsearchnew/nelacptproviders.cfm for the inclusion of new proficiency testing providers and revisions to the Scopes of Accreditation of the current providers over time.

INELA Notes

INELA’s mission is to help maintain and promote a system for the accreditation of entities directly involved in the generation of environmental data. This is done by developing and promoting accreditation standards and by providing technical assistance to both organizations seeking accreditation and organizations providing accreditation services. A2LA has representatives serving on two of the INELA Expert Committees: Randy Querry serves on the INELA Quality System Committee and Dan Tholen serves on the INELA Proficiency Testing Committee.

The Quality System Committee has created a working draft standard based on ISO/IEC 17025:2005. This document follows the format of ISO/IEC 17025:2005 and includes additional environmental technical requirements throughout the standard in an effort to improve upon the 2003 NELAC Chapter 5. The standard was issued to the INELA members for vote in July 2006 resulting in over two hundred comments.

The Proficiency Testing Provider Committee also created a working draft standard that incorporated many of the requirements found in ISO Guide 43 and ILAC G-13:2000.  In addition, the committee concentrated on improving the requirements of the 2003 NELAC Chapter 2 and appendices.  This standard also was issued to the INELA membership for voting in July 2006 resulting in numerous comments.

Based upon the number of comments and the controversy tied to some of them, both expert technical committees opted to keep the standards as working versions while the comments are considered.  The goal of the committees is to have draft standards ready for consideration at the next Forum on Laboratory Accreditation that is scheduled for January 27 - February 2, 2007 in Denver, CO. 

The Cheseapeake Summit
Since the Forum on Laboratory Accreditation, a NELAC/INELA Partnership Planning Team has continued efforts in planning the restructuring and provided recommendations to the NELAC and INELA Board of Directors during a special summit held in Cambridge, MD on November 6 - 8, 2006. The meeting was geared toward determining steps to attain self-sufficiency and combining the operations of the groups.  One of the highlights of the meeting was the formation of The NELAC Institute (TNI) and the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the NELAC and the INELA Boards of Directors. Additionally, an MOU was signed between A2LA and The NELAC Institute solidifying the relationship and ensuring continuity in A2LA’s recognition as a Proficiency Testing Oversight Body / Proficiency Testing Provider Accreditor.

Aerospace Advisory Committee Meeting Summary

The inaugural A2LA Aerospace Advisory Committee (AAC) meeting was held on Tuesday, September 26, 2006, from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the Sheraton Hotel in Columbia, MD.  This committee meeting was open to the public and included specifiers (Primes), material testing laboratories (MTLs), assessors, and other interested parties.  Topics of discussion focused on the intent of the committee, the overview of A2LA’s organization and processes, mutual recognition arrangements, harmonization of the industry, and aerospace Primes’ recognition. 

The main objectives of the meeting were to:

1. Expand the committee membership to include experts in various sectors of the aerospace industry (12 additional members were added to the committee);  
2. Educate participants on A2LA and accreditation to ISO/IEC 17025;
3. Advise A2LA on how to proceed within the aerospace industry.

The next AAC meeting will be held on Friday, March 23, 2007, at the Sheraton Hotel in Columbia, MD.  For further information on the Aerospace Advisory Committee or to obtain a copy of the meeting minutes please contact Rob Miller at 301 644 3239 or .

A2LA Helps Organize Food Safety Symposium

Roger Brauninger, A2LA Senior Laboratory Services Officer, was an organizer of a symposium on food safety at the International Association for Food Protection (IAFP) 93rd Annual Meeting held in Calgary, Canada on August 13-16, 2006. 

Those who took part in the symposium on the "Role and Application of International Standards in Supporting Food Safety Management and Testing" were Albert Chambers, Monachus Consulting; Christine Bedillion, NSF International and Michael Carmody from RABQSA who all spoke on the topic of ISO 22000.  Speaking on aspects of ISO 17025:2005 accreditation were Dawn Mettler of Rockbridge Laboratory Services (and an A2LA assessor), Cathy Burns of the DHHS/ORA/FDA Denver District Laboratory and Molly Mills of rtech Analytical Laboratories. The symposium addressed the application of ISO 22000 food safety management which, along with the ISO 17025 laboratory quality control accreditation conformity assessment criteria, work in harmony to help maintain food product quality and safety.  Together these help to provide the consumer with confidence that the food supply is as safe and secure as possible.

ISO 22000:2005 is designed to allow all types of organizations within the food chain to implement food safety management systems. Organizations ranging from feed producers, food manufacturers, transport operators and subcontractors to retail and food service outlets, together with related organizations such as producers of ingredients and ancillary materials represent a significant advance in the application of HACCP and other food safety management principles.  ISO 17025:2005 accreditation of a food-testing laboratory provides third party attestation of their competence and their ability to produce technically valid results.  Sharing similar quality system management criteria with that of ISO 9001 and ISO 22000, it extends these standards with additional requirements for the technical management of the product testing process.

New & Updated Documents

• The Instructions:  Responding to the Assessor Deficiency Report has been updated to an August 1, 2006 version.  The changes made address the policy and format for submitting laboratory corrective action responses to A2LA electronically.  The Instructions are located on the A2LA website.

New Applications of ISO/IEC 17025 Requirements

During the third quarter of 2006, the A2LA Criteria Council voted to approve one new application of the ISO/IEC 17025:2005 requirements.  This and other explanations may be found on the A2LA website, Understanding ISO/IEC 17025.

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Section 4.13.2.1 (ISO/IEC 17025:2005) - How much detail is required to be kept in the required records?  For example, must lot numbers for every reagent used be recorded on every test record?

Section 4.13.2.1 of ISO/IEC 17025 requires that the records for every test or calibration “contain sufficient information to facilitate, if possible, identification of factors affecting the uncertainty and to enable the test or calibration to be repeated under conditions as close as possible to the original.”  While the standard does not specifically require that lot numbers for reagents be recorded on every individual test record, a laboratory should maintain sufficient traceability throughout their record system such that this information could be determined and retrieved if necessary (e.g., if it is determined that a lot of reagents was contaminated such that certain test results could be potentially affected).  Please keep in mind, however, that individual A2LA Specific Program Requirements (e.g., for NELAP in the environmental field, etc.) may contain additional, more stringent requirements related to this question that laboratories applying for accreditation within those fields would have to meet.
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If you have questions about this or any other application of the ISO/IEC 17025 requirements, please contact A2LA.

APLAC Conference in Taipei

A conference of the Asia Pacific Laboratory Accreditation Conference (APLAC) was held the week of September 11, 2006 in Taipei.  Roxanne Robinson, Vice President, and Trace McInturff, Operations Manager, represented A2LA at these meetings. 

The APLAC mutual recognition arrangement (MRA) council voted to continue A2LA’s signatory status within the APLAC MRA for testing and calibration laboratory accreditation.  In addition, A2LA was accepted as a signatory to the APLAC MRA for inspection body accreditation.  APLAC also accepted A2LA as a signatory for reference material producer (RMP) accreditation, which was just recently added to the APLAC MRA.  However, A2LA will not actually sign the MRA for RMP accreditation until three additional accreditation bodies obtain this same acceptance, which is expected to occur in 2007.

Finally, the deadline of June 1, 2007 for all laboratories to be accredited to the 2005 version of ISO/IEC 17025 was discussed in addition to progress made by APLAC accreditation bodies in meeting this deadline.

ONE TEST, ONE ACCREDITATION -- ACCEPTED EVERYWHERE

By Peter Unger, A2LA President

Laboratories are understandably frustrated by the need to obtain duplicate accreditations for similar types of tests, measurements and calibrations.  The proliferation of accreditation bodies, each with users only accepting their preferred accreditation body tends to increase the duplication.  There are numerous examples where this is the case.  The point of this paper, though, is not to elaborate on this problem but to discuss the solution.  It is generally agreed that the ideal of  “one test, one accreditation – accepted everywhere” is a worthwhile and achievable aim. A2LA supports this aim and that the way to achieve it is through Mutual Recognition Arrangements (MRAs) among the accreditation bodies themselves.

Cooperation at the International Level

Efforts to realize this ideal have a long history, both nationally and internationally.  The International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) was established 30 years ago to develop accreditation as a trade facilitation tool.  If the global accreditation community were to accept the outcomes of each other’s accreditations, it would need to operate with equivalent criteria and processes.  Internationally accepted standards of practice for laboratory accreditation were needed.  The first international standard from the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), ISO Guide 25:1978, addressed the general requirements for the competence of laboratories, based upon the work of ILAC.  ASTM standard E548 served as a primary source for Guide 25 text.  The latest version is now ISO/IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) standard 17025:2005.  Beginning in the early 1980s, standards for the operation and acceptance of accreditation bodies were published.  ASTM standard E994 was the U.S. equivalent (using virtually identical text) to ISO/IEC Guide 58, which was recently replaced by ISO/IEC 17011:2004.  In the 1990s, ASTM Committee E36 began to adopt ISO laboratory accreditation standards, which are now the generally accepted U.S. standards.  ASTM E36 is recommending the formal adoption of ISO/IEC 17011:2004 as an American National Standard.  NIST, ANSI and several federal agencies already use these standards.

ILAC also agreed to the rules for peer evaluation of accreditation bodies for Mutual Recognition Arrangements (MRAs).  The foundation for realizing “one test, one accreditation – accepted everywhere” was thereby laid.  Acceptance would begin with the accreditation bodies themselves.  The whole purpose of an MRA is to provide a mechanism where reports from accredited laboratories can be accepted everywhere.  MRAs, as agreed on the regional and international level, oblige each signatory to recognize and promote the equivalence of the accreditations of the other signatories. 

The ILAC MRA was established in October 2000.  ILAC works through recognized regions so that signatories to the MRAs of the European cooperation for Accreditation (EA) and the Asia Pacific Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (APLAC) automatically become eligible for recognition under the ILAC MRA.  The Inter-American Accreditation Cooperation (IAAC) is in the process of having its MRA process recognized and accepted by ILAC, perhaps as early as November 2006. 
 
Cooperation at the National Level

Laboratory accreditation has developed in many U.S. market sectors at different times and under different circumstances.  As accreditations overlapped and became duplicative, ways for consolidating them have been explored. 

In 1992, ACIL, ANSI, and NIST formed a tri-partite cooperation called the Laboratory Accreditation Working Group (LAWG).  After five years of intense discussion of how to reduce the duplication and complexity of the U.S. laboratory accreditation scene, ACIL, ANSI and NIST jointly established the National Cooperation for Laboratory Accreditation (NACLA) in 1997. 

NACLA developed a process for evaluation and mutual recognition of accreditation bodies based upon international standards and practice.  In October 2000, the first three signatories (i.e., A2LA, NVLAP and International Accreditation Services (IAS)) to the NACLA Mutual Recognition Arrangement (MRA) were recognized based on peer evaluations of the APLAC MRA.  NACLA has added five more signatories, but the three original signatories have since resigned from the NACLA MRA for legitimate and compelling reasons.  However, A2LA continues to support the goals of NACLA and believes that an opportunity to realize these goals is at hand.

A New and Better Approach by NACLA to Achieve Harmonization

NACLA has recently approached ILAC to explore acceptance as a region.   However, recognized regions of ILAC must be composed of a minimum of four countries to have international credibility that the decision-making process is impartial.  Accepting NACLA’s request requires fundamental changes to which ILAC is unlikely to agree.  ILAC is much more likely to encourage interested NACLA members to participate in the ILAC mutual recognition process, either directly or through participation in the MRA of one of ILAC’s recognized regions (e.g., APLAC or IAAC).  This would ensure maintenance of a truly internationally harmonized process for mutual recognition.

NACLA also intends to pursue closer association with IAAC.  A2LA is pleased to support NACLA joining IAAC (or APLAC).  The combination of each body’s limited resources would strengthen the realization of their common goals. U.S.-based accreditation bodies can be evaluated by an internationally recognized process, enabling the accreditation bodies to get international (as well as national) recognition with one evaluation, thus avoiding duplication and the distinct possibility of differing standards of practice.  Conflict-of-interest issues would be resolved.  Unnecessary trade barriers would be avoided.  NACLA stakeholder members can participate in IAAC and ILAC and thus have more influence on the development of international standards of laboratory accreditation practice, which as noted earlier, are also the national standards. 

Why should U.S. Laboratories Care?

Just as laboratories do not want duplicative assessments, accreditation bodies do not want duplicative evaluations.  Separate evaluation schemes are costly and if they are based on different standards they are even more costly.   Such costs are inevitably passed through to the accredited laboratories.   If an accreditation body can get an evaluation to serve both national and international recognition, costs would be reduced. 

Not withstanding growing discontent in some quarters, globalization is here to stay.  This is even more valid for accreditation and mutual recognition processes and the standards by which they operate.  The global MRA processes are growing in coverage, effectiveness and acceptability.  Trade agreements are beginning to include references to the ILAC MRA. Recognition and acceptance of the ILAC MRA will continue to grow in the marketplace and with federal agencies.  NIST, the Navy and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission are users of the ILAC MRA.  Regulators will follow, albeit more slowly.  

The U.S. with its multiplicity of accreditation bodies does not make it unique in the world, which some suggest requires a separate national system. There are at least 10 other countries with more than one accreditation body, many of which are members of ILAC.  It is in the self-interest of U.S. laboratory accreditation bodies and U.S. laboratories to follow the international (national) rules no differently than other countries.  Doing our own thing would be duplicative, wasteful and ultimately counterproductive.

(Article originally appeared in a recent ACIL Newsletter.)

A2LA’s Bilateral Contract of Cooperation with EA Continues

Roxanne Robinson, A2LA Vice President, represented A2LA at the recent European cooperation for Accreditation (EA) Multilateral Agreement Committee (MAC) meeting held in Brussels, Belgium on October 5 and 6, 2006.

At this meeting, the MAC members reviewed and discussed the results of the mutual recognition arrangement (MRA) evaluation of A2LA that took place in March 2006.  Roxanne was present to answer any questions and clarify any issues.  As a result of this meeting, the bilateral contract of cooperation for testing and calibration that A2LA has with EA was continued for another four years, until 2010.

MRA Success Stories

A2LA is often made aware of specific cases where accredited laboratories reap the benefits of A2LA’s many mutual recognition arrangements (MRAs) with our counterparts around the world – two of which are the ILAC (International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation) and APLAC (Asia Pacific Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation) MRAs.  The following cases were brought to our attention over the past few months:

• The European Union (EU) Commission has decided that only cigarette lighters that are child-resistant may be placed on the market.  Tests on these lighters must be performed in accordance with the standard, EN 13869:2002, and must be performed by laboratories accredited to ISO/IEC 17025:2005 by ILAC MRA signatories.  This is the first time that ILAC members are mentioned in an EU Commission decision.
• An importer in New Zealand wished to import an EMC device from the United States.  The New Zealand regulator in this area has a very transparent process for approval, requiring that the device be tested in an International Accreditation New Zealand (IANZ) accredited lab or in a lab accredited by an MRA partner of IANZ.  The device was tested in an A2LA accredited lab.  Since A2LA is a fellow signatory with IANZ in both the APLAC and ILAC MRAs, the device was able to be imported directly into New Zealand without any further intervention.

Have you encountered a situation where your A2LA accreditation has facilitated trade or exchange of data across international borders?  If so, please let us know!