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News |
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June 2008 |
International Accreditation Day 9 June 2008 has been designated as the first International Accreditation Day by the International Accreditation Forum (IAF) and International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC). Details are available from the websites of these organisations (www.ilac.org and www.iaf.nu respectively). Many important decisions are made based on results of testing, certification and inspection services. Accreditation gives assurance to the reliability of such results and has been adopted by economies and societies worldwide as the preferred means to assure the quality of important decisions. Trust, the theme for this year¡¦s International Accreditation Day, has been chosen to highlight the way in which accreditation rules and procedures are harmonized at a worldwide level to underpin free global trade of products and services conforming to customer¡¦s requirements and to legal requirements regarding health and safety and protection of public interests in general. As an active member of both IAF and ILAC, Hong Kong Accreditation Service supports this meaningful event and considers it a good opportunity for raising awareness of the benefits brought about by accreditation. The Service is administered by the Innovation and Technology Commission of the SAR Government. It has been providing world recognized accreditation to local laboratories, certification bodies and inspection bodies for two decades. Accreditation will only be granted to an organisation after it has been appraised to be competent through rigorous on-site assessments by a team of experts. As its criteria are based on stringent and up-to-date international standards fortified by specific local requirements, accreditation gives assurance to the service provided by accredited organisations. Through the ILAC and IAF mutual recognition arrangements the Service has concluded with its many counterparts in various parts of the world, the data issued by accredited organisations are well accepted in many economies, including all major trading partners of Hong Kong. Such acceptance eliminates the need for repetition of test, certification or inspection at the importing economies and thus facilitates Hong Kong¡¦s external trade. More information on accreditation is available from this website or through contacting us at Tel.: 2929 4840. |
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February 2008 |
Accreditation of Indoor Air Quality Inspection Body Since the launching of a new indoor air quality inspection field under the Hong Kong Inspection Body Accreditation Scheme (HKIAS) in late 2007, there were six inspection bodies accredited to perform IAQ walkthrough inspections, on site measurements & sampling and compliance assessments. They are as follows
Apart from the above accredited bodies, some applicant bodies are also in the pipeline.
The accreditation of the quality management system of IAQ inspection bodies is based on the ISO/IEC 17020. The accreditation of the above inspections was in accordance with the requirements set by the HKSAR Government Indoor Air Quality Group document entitled ¡§A Guide on Indoor Air Quality Certification Scheme¡¨. A HKIAS Supplementary Criteria No. 4 ¡§Indoor Air Quality Inspection¡¨ issued in July 2006. This document was endorsed by the members of the Task Force (TF) for Accreditation of IAQ Inspection Body established under the Accreditation Advisory Board of HKAS. The Task Force for Indoor Air Quality Inspection (TF) acts as an industry wide and interactive committee for gathering all interested parties and stakeholders in the profession and industry to discuss and deliberate issues related to their trade. The chairman of the TF is Mr. S W Pang who is the Principal Environmental Protection Officer of EPD. HKAS provides the secretariat to the TF. The TF members are representatives from various organizations such as universities, trade associations, engineering institutions and government departments, etc. |
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January 2008 |
New Accreditation Service for Proficiency Testing Providers Effective from 1 January 2008, Hong Kong Accreditation Service accepts application for accreditation of Proficiency Testing Providers. The accreditation requirements shall be in accordance with those stated in ILAC G13: 2007 ¡V Guidelines for the Requirements for the Competence of Providers of Proficiency Testing Schemes; and the ISO Guide 43:1997 Proficiency Testing by Interlaboratory Comparisons ¡V Part 1: Development and Operation of Proficiency Testing Schemes. The ILAC G13:2007 is available from ILAC¡¦s website: http://www.ilac.org/guidanceseries.html. Application documents for this service are available on our HKAS publication webpage: http://www.itc.gov.hk/en/quality/hkas/publication.htm |
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November 2007 |
Forum on Consumer Products Safety Mr Richard O'Brien, Director, Office of International Programs and Intergovernmental Affairs of the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) visited Hong Kong Accreditation Service (HKAS) on 16 November 2007. He held a meeting with HKAS Executive during which Mr. S. S. Chan, Executive Administrator, HKAS, explained to Mr O'Brien the accreditation system in Hong Kong. After the meeting, a forum on the latest development on the legislation on product safety in the US was held. About 30 representatives from HKAS accredited laboratories, certification bodies and technical assessors attended this forum. Click here for the presentation slides of Mr O'Brien on US regulatory requirements of consumer product safety and click here for the photos of the forum. |
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November 2007 |
New Issue of ILAC/IAF joint General Assembly "In the ILAC/IAF joint general assembly held last week in Sydney, the following important resolutions were adopted. Accredited organisations may like to study them carefully to see if their operation will be affected and take appropriate actions. For further information, please contact the accreditation officers responsible for assessing your organisations. 1. IAF has resolved to establish a multilateral recognition arrangement for accreditation of certification bodies for persons. (IAF resolution 2007-11) Details of these resolutions can be found from the following links As HKAS is a member of both ILAC and IAF, HKAS will implement the JGA Sydney Resolution 7 immediately. The new version of HKAS 002 - Regulation for HKAS Accreditation, currently being prepared will include the necessary provisions." |
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November 2007 |
Screening of Lead in consumer products CPSC points out that testing by a qualified laboratory and trained personnel is the only way to accurately assess the potential risk posed by a consumer product that may contain lead. HKAS has accredited a number of laboratories for analysis of lead content in toys and children's products and other consumer products. Persons requiring this laboratory service can access http://www.itc.gov.hk/ch/quality/hkas/doc/Laboratories%20accredited%20by%20 |
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Sep 2007 |
New Issue of IAF Guidance on the Application of ISO/IEC Guide 65 : 1996 IAF Guidance on the Application of ISO/IEC Guide 65 : 1996 Issue 2 (IAF GD 5:2006) has been issued. |
