Draft standard ISO/IEC 17025 is available for commenting
Draft international standard ISO/IEC 17025 “General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories” is published on the draft standard commenting site viedoklis.lvs.lv. Deadline for submission of comments is 9 March of this year.
Term for mandatory accreditation of medical laboratories extended until the end of 2017
On 1 January 2017, amendments to the Cabinet of Ministers Regulations No. 60 “Regulations Regarding Mandatory Requirements for Medical Treatment Institutions and Their Structural Units” of 20 January 2009 came into force, which, among other things, provide for the obligation of medical treatment institutions to ensure accreditation of medical laboratories according to requirements of the standard LVS EN ISO 15189:2013 “Medical laboratories. Requirements for quality and competence” until 31 December 2017.
9 June – World Accreditation Day
On 9 June, the World Accreditation Day is celebrated across the world. The topic in this year is “Accreditation as an instrument for supporting the state policy”. Standards, conformity assessment and accreditation are instruments, which can be used by policy-makers to develop an appropriate and efficient regulatory framework, ensure environment protection, public safety and trust, as well as safety and export capacity of products and services.
Accreditation certifies, that the accredited conformity assessment bodies, which offer testing, calibration, medical examination, certification, inspection and verification services, are technically competent and independent to verify conformity of products and services to specific national and international standards.
According to the Regulation (EC) 765/2008, accreditation in each Member State of the European Union is performed by national accreditation bodies selected by each respective Member State. Functions of the national accreditation body in Latvia are implemented by the Latvian National Accreditation Bureau (LATAK).
LATAK conference “Accreditation: support for promotion of competitiveness and export capacity” took place on 16 June 2016
On the occasion of the World Accreditation Day, the Latvian National Accreditation Bureau (LATAK) organized the conference “Accreditation: support for promotion of competitiveness and export capacity” on 16 June of this year.
The conference was attended by policy-makers, representatives of non-governmental organizations, and professionals and entrepreneurs in the sector to discuss the role and value added of accreditation and conformity assessment in the promotion of competitiveness and export capacity. The conference was attended by 90 participants.
Meeting of the Multilateral Agreement Council of the European co-operation for Accreditation in Riga
On 20 and 21 April of this year, the meeting of the Multilateral Agreement Council of the European co-operation for Accreditation took place in the hotel “Radisson Blu Daugava” in Riga, which was attended by heads and representatives of European accreditation bodies, including Mārtiņš Ozoliņš, the Acting Head of the Latvian National Accreditation Bureau, and Olga Veilande, the Member of the Board of LLC “Standardisation, Accreditation and Metrology Centre”.
The meeting was opened by Zaiga Liepiņa, the Deputy State Secretary of the Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Latvia and the Chairwoman of the Latvian National Accreditation Council. During the meeting, the results of EA Multilateral Agreement (hereinafter – EA MLA) Council were reviewed and decisions were made about retaining of EA MLA signatory status to several national accreditation bodies.