The General Assembly noted that TURKAK (Turkey, EA) has been accepted for membership in the IAF MLA for QMS, NABCB (India, PAC) and PAO (Philippines, PAC) have been accepted for membership in the IAF MLA for EMS, and SAC (Singapore, PAC), ANSI (USA, PAC), TAF (Chinese Taipei, PAC) and KAS (Korea, PAC) have been accepted for membership in the IAF MLA for Product, as a consequence of PAC or EA MLA membership. Note: SAC signed the IAF MLA for Product on 23 January 2007. TURKAK signed the IAF MLA for QMS, NABCB and PAO signed the IAF MLA for EMS and ANSI, TAF and KAS signed the IAF Product MLA at a ceremony during the IAF-ILAC Gala Dinner on 26 October 2007.

The General Assembly, acting on the recommendation of the MLA Committee, resolved to

• - establish a MLA for accreditation of certification bodies for persons in IAF, noting that the MLA will be a part of the IAF MLA based on ISO/IEC 17011 and ISO/IEC 17024, as a framework MLA with specific Certification Schemes for Persons endorsed by IAF as sub-scopes; and
• - to commence the peer evaluation for the MLA at the time of completing the revision of IAF GD 24 and the development of relevant requirements in the IAF Mandatory Document for the application of ISO/IEC 17011 as identified by the Technical Committee, to address the harmonized implementation of ISO/IEC 17024 and ISO/IEC 17011.

The General Assembly received with appreciation the report (ref IAF GA 21_9) from the Chair of the Development Support Committee (DSC) as presented.

The General Assembly received with appreciation the report of the Chairman of the Communications and Marketing Committee (CMC) as presented.

The General Assembly received with appreciation the report by the Treasurer on the Financial Affairs of IAF and the Report of the Financial Auditor on the Financial Operations of IAF, December 31, 2006 as circulated and presented.

The General Assembly received with appreciation the report of the Financial Oversight Committee (ref IAF 20_11 B), as circulated and endorsed the recommendation that the 2006 financial accounts be accepted.

The Annual Meeting resolved to appoint Mr Vagn Anderson (DANAK) and Mr Jeff Chen (TAF) to be members of the Financial Oversight Committee for the complete years of 2008 and 2009.

The General Assembly received with appreciation the report by the Treasurer on the financial affairs of IAF for the period 1 January to 31 August 2007 as presented.

The General Assembly, approved the IAF Budget for 2008 as submitted by the Treasurer and directed the Secretary to send invoices for membership fees for 2008 based upon the budget amount.

The General Assembly received with appreciation the presentations and status reports provided on the Re-engineering of Accreditation, a QMS Certification Validation Experiment, Proposals for improving the credibility of MS certification, Improvement of IAF MLA evaluations and the Outcomes of the San Francisco and Beijing Industry Days/Formation of the User Advisory Committee.

The General Assembly received with appreciation the ISO/TC 176 report (ref IAF GA 21_13A) and the IAQG liaison report (ref IAF GA 21_13B) as presented.

The General Assembly congratulated the following Directors on their election:

1. Ms Elva Nilsen (SCC) elected unopposed as Vice Chair for a one year term ending at the 2008 Annual Meeting.
2. Mr Girdhar Gyani (NABCB) elected unopposed as Director representing Accreditation Body Members located in a low and medium income economy, as designated by the World Bank, for a three year term ending at the 2010 Annual Meeting.

Notes:

1. Dr Thomas Facklam (DAR) will complete his term as IAF Chairman at the 2009 Annual Meeting.
2. Dr Lorenzo Thione (SINCERT) will complete his term as Director representing Accreditation Body Members located in a high income economy, as designated by the World Bank, at the 2009 Annual Meeting.

The General Assembly expressed its appreciation for the excellent arrangements and support provided by JAS-ANZ and NATA as joint hosts of the IAF Twenty First Annual Meetings, held in October 2007, in Sydney, Australia.

The General Assembly accepted with appreciation the invitation by SWEDAC to host the 2008 Annual Meetings in Stockholm, Sweden, from 10 to 22 October, 2008, in association with the ILAC General Assembly.

The General Assembly accepted with appreciation the invitation by CAEAL (Canadian Association of Environmental Analytical Laboratories) to host the 2009 Annual Meetings in Vancouver, Canada, from 9 to 21 October, 2009 in association with the ILAC General Assembly.

The General Assembly accepted with appreciation the invitation by CNAS to host the 2010 Annual Meetings in Shanghai, China, in association with the ILAC General Assembly.

Invitation for the 2011 Annual Meetings - The General Assembly accepted with appreciation the invitation by NAC to host the 2011 Annual Meetings in Bangkok, Thailand, in association with the ILAC General Assembly.

The IAF and ILAC Joint General Assembly received with appreciation the presentations and reports provided by ISO, ICSCA, IEC/CAB, UNIDO, OIML and UNFCCC.

The IAF and ILAC Joint General Assembly received with appreciation the presentations and reports provided by the IAF/ILAC Joint Working Groups.

The IAF and ILAC Joint General Assembly, acting on the recommendation of the JCCC, endorses the draft Terms of Reference of the Joint Inspection Group (JIG).

The IAF and ILAC Joint General Assembly, acting on the recommendation of the JCCC, endorses a new work item to be undertaken by the Joint Inspection Group (JIG) to draft a single top level document that approaches the forensic process as a whole and provides common guidance for both ISO/IEC 17020 and ISO/IEC 17025 in areas where the activities overlap. The guidance will be based on the guidance document to ISO/IECIAF-AM-07 21 General Assembly – 2007 17020 for Crime Scene Investigation, already prepared by EA and ENFSI, and on ILAC G19 for forensic laboratories.

The IAF and ILAC Joint General Assembly, acting on the recommendation of the JCCC, endorses the draft Terms of Reference of the Joint Working Group on Communications.

The IAF and ILAC Joint General Assembly endorses the proposal presented by the JWG Communications to establish June 9th as the annual International Accreditation Day.

The IAF and ILAC Joint General Assembly, acting on the recommendation of the JCCC, resolves that when a Conformity Assessment Body (CAB), accredited by an Accreditation Body (AB), is providing certification to any standard used as a basis for accrediting CABs (e.g. ISO/IEC 17025 or ISO 15189), the AB shall initiate its process for suspension of accreditation, as this behaviour of the CAB will put the AB, against its will, in the condition of providing the same service that a CAB performs, in violation of clause 4.3.6 of ISO/IEC 17011. Further decisions shall be based on the actions taken by the CAB. All IAF and ILAC AB members shall include a suitable provision on such a possibility in their contracts with CABs. Note: It is accepted that a CAB may have to assess subcontractors to confirm that they meet the CABs’ requirements, which may include accreditation standards e.g. ISO/IEC17025. Documentation issued to subcontractors as a result of a successful assessment should clearly state that this is only for the purposes of the subcontract and is not certification or accreditation in accordance with ISO/IEC 17011.

The IAF and ILAC Joint General Assembly received with appreciation the presentations and reports provided by APLAC, EA, IAAC, PAC, SADCA and CAC-MAS-Q.

The General Assembly received and accepted the list of apologies for non-attendance and accepted the notifications of proxies by members.

The General Assembly adopted the draft agenda (ref IAF–GA20-3).

The General Assembly approved the draft Minutes as a true record of the Nineteenth Annual Meeting, held in Auckland, New Zealand, on 17 and 19 September, 2005 (ref IAF–AM–05-010 Rev1) as circulated.

The General Assembly received with appreciation the report of the Chairman as presented.

The General Assembly received the report by the Secretary on the current IAF membership as at November 2006 (ref IAF-AM-06-003 Rev1).

The General Assembly received the Secretary’s report (ref IAF GA20-6) on the admission to membership since the 2005 Annual Meeting of the Hellenic Accreditation System of Greece (ESYD), the Egyptian Accreditation Council (EGAC), the Portuguese Institute for Accreditation (IPAC) and the Dubai Accreditation Centre (DAC). Note: EGAC (Egypt) and IPAC (Portugal) signed the IAF MoU at a ceremony during the IAF-ILAC Gala Dinner on 12 November 2006. ESYD (Greece) and DAC (Dubai) had previously signed the MoU in November 2005 and September 2006, respectively.

The General Assembly endorsed the adoption of the standards and guides as listed in the proposed revision of IAF PR 4: 2005 (ref IAF–GA20-6.7) and instructed the Secretary to publish this as IAF PR 4: 2006 issue 3.

The General Assembly received with appreciation the report from the Chairman of the Technical Committee (ref IAF GA20 –7) and approved the Technical Committee Program.

The General Assembly, acting on the recommendation of the Technical Committee, resolved that the transition period for conforming to ISO/IEC 17021:2006 be 24 months from the date of publication of the standard by ISO. Therefore, on 15 September 2008, accreditation to ISO/IEC Guide 62:1996 and ISO/IEC Guide 66:1999 will no longer be valid. The annexes of IAF GD2 or IAF GD6 should continue to be applied until superseded.

The General Assembly received with appreciation the report from the Co-Convener of the ISO 9000 Advisory Group (ref IAF GA20 –7.2) as presented.

The General Assembly received with appreciation the report from the Chairman of the MLA Committee (ref IAF 20-8).

The General Assembly noted that the IAF MLA Group, on the recommendation of the MLA MC, had agreed that IAAC should be admitted to the IAF MLA for QMS. Note: IAAC signed the IAF MLA for QMS at a ceremony during the IAF-ILAC Gala Dinner on 12 November 2006.

The General Assembly noted that DSM (Malaysia, PAC) has been accepted for membership in the IAF MLA for EMS, and ESYD (Greece, EA), IPAC (Portugal, EA) and SA (Slovenia, EA) have been accepted for membership in the IAF MLAs for QMS, EMS and Product, as a consequence of PAC or EA MLA membership respectively. Note: DSM signed the IAF MLA for EMS on 15 March 2006 and has joined the IAF MLA for QMS on 29 September 1999. ESYD signed the IAF MLAs for QMS, EMS and Product on 24 March 2006. IPAC and SA signed the IAF QMS, EMS and Product MLAs at a ceremony during the IAF-ILAC Gala Dinner on 12 November 2006.

The General Assembly, acting on the recommendation of the MLA Committee, resolved that all Foreign Critical Locations (FCLs) included in accreditation scopes for ISO 9001 QMS and ISO 14001 EMS on or before 31 December 2006 shall be initially assessed on-site at least once by an IAF MLA member AB for all scopes of accreditation for ISO 9001 QMS and ISO 14001 EMS being covered by the FCLs, no later than 31 December 2007.

The General Assembly, acting on the recommendation of the MLA Committee, resolved that all Foreign Critical Locations (FCLs) included in accreditation scopes for product certification on or before 31 December 2006 shall be initially assessed on-site at least once by an IAF MLA member AB for scopes of accreditation for product certification being covered by the FCLs, no later than 31 December 2008.

The General Assembly, acting on the recommendation of the MLA Committee, resolved that the IAF MLA MC will carry out a survey regarding FCLs/foreign premises by 1 May 2007 on the implementation of the resolutions adopted for assessment of Foreign Critical Locations for both QMS/EMS and Product Certification by the IAF MLA Signatories and present a report on the survey to the IAF MLA Committee at the 2007 IAF Annual Meetings in Sydney.

The General Assembly received with appreciation the report from the Chair of the Development Support Committee (DSC).

The General Assembly received with appreciation the report of the Chairman of the Communications and Marketing Committee as presented.

The General Assembly received with appreciation the report by the Treasurer on the Financial Affairs of IAF and the Report of the Financial Auditor on the Financial Operations of IAF, December 31, 2005 as circulated and presented.

The General Assembly received with appreciation the report of the Financial Oversight Committee (ref IAF 20-11.3), as circulated and endorsed the recommendation that the 2005 financial accounts be accepted.

The General Assembly received with appreciation the report by the Treasurer on the financial affairs of IAF for the period 1 January to 30 September 2006 as presented.

The General Assembly, approved the IAF Budget for 2007 as submitted by the Treasurer and as modified by the General Assembly, directed the Secretary to send invoices for membership fees for 2007 based upon the budget amount, with no change in general

The General Assembly received with appreciation the presentations and status reports provided on the IAF Strategic Plan, accreditation of certifiers of persons, proposed election of IAF Committee Chairs, and the proposal for improving the credibility of management system certifications.

The General Assembly endorsed the adoption of the IAF Strategic Plan 2006 (ref IAF–GA20-12.1) as circulated and presented.

The General Assembly requested the IAF Board and Executive to consider the revision of IAF PR 2:2005 IAF Procedures for the Organization of IAF Committees and Subordinate Groups, for the selection procedure(s) for Chairpersons of IAF Permanent Committees and Subordinate Groups, taking into account the discussion at the IAF General Assembly, including the need for transparency and balanced regional representation, and to report back to the IAF membership on the results at the next General Assembly.