Contents

• ISO/CASCO technical work
  
• Working Groups
• ISO/CASCO liaisons
• News from the Secretariat
• ISO/CASCO diary
• In the next issue

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ISO/CASCO technical work

ISO/CASCO/TMB meeting
The biennial joint meeting of ISO/CASCO and the Technical Management Board was held in 2009. CASCO was represented by the Chair (Mr. Olivier Peyrat), Ms. Ileana Martinez (ANSI), Mr. Guenther Beer (DIN), Mr. Ian Cleare (BSI) and the CASCO Secretariat. The following topics were discussed:

• ISO/CASCO
• Neutrality principle
• ISO/CASCO TIG (Technical Interface Group) and relations with ISO Technical Committees (TCs)
• ISO/CASCO interpretation process
• Sustainable buildings and energy efficiency

ISO/CASCO TIG
The ISO/CASCO TIG (Technical Interface Group) convened by Mr. Cleare held its 4^th meeting by teleconference on 28 September.
The TIG is a technically focused group which liaises with ISO TCs in order to ensure a consistent and harmonized approach to conformity assessment. There are currently 16 draft standards under review, at various stages of development and with varying degrees of resolution on conformity assessment issues. While much of the work can be accomplished by correspondence, it is necessary in some cases for TIG members to attend meetings of TCs and to participate directly in their work.

Working Groups

WG 21, Certification of management system
The ISO/IEC DIS 17021-2 ballot was launched on 17 September 2009 for 5 months.

WG 27, Writing specifications for use in conformity assessment
ISO/IEC 17007 was published on 15 September 2009.

WG 28, Proficiency testing
The last WG 28 meeting was held at the offices of the American Society for Quality / ANSI American National Accreditation Board (ASQ/ANSI ANAB) from 29 June to 1 July 2009.

First row, second from left: Joyce Bleeker, ISO/CASCO Senior Project Manager. First row, third from left: Dan Tholen, WG 28 Convenor

The WG reviewed comments received on ISO/IEC DIS 17043 and agreed to proceed to FDIS stage. The FDIS ballot is planned end October and publication of the standard in early 2010. The WG Convenor, Dan Tholen, states that "There is intense international interest in this standard. Many ILAC (International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation) members and regions have plans to implement it as soon as it is approved and are actively planning or conducting training in the new standard. ILAC and its regional cooperations are taking steps to extend their Mutual Recognition Arrangements to include proficiency testing."

WG 29, Certification of products, services and processes
At its last meeting, the Working Group 29 decided to move the draft of the future ISO/IEC 17065 to the Committee Draft (CD) stage. The Committee Draft has been put to ballot for a period of 4 months, ending on 1 February 2010. The WG 29 will address the comments received at its next meeting, in April 2010.

WG 30, Certification for persons
A small part of the WG 30 formed a drafting group to resolve the comments received on the first working draft of the Standard. The drafting group met on 28 and 29 September in Geneva. The outcome of their work will be the second working draft of ISO/IEC 17024.

WG 31, Inspection
The WG 31 met in September and the output of this meeting will be the second working draft of the revised ISO/IEC 17020.

WG 32, Revision of ISO/IEC Guide 67 including Guides 23, 27, 28, 53
This new Working Group will be convened by Mr. Cleare, nominated by BSI. The nomination of experts is open and the first meeting of the WG is planned on 1, 2 and 3 February 2010, in Geneva.
Note: experts are to be nominated by their respective NMB.

WG 33, ISO/IEC TS 17022, 3rd party audit reports
The new work item proposal proposed by AFNOR on "Minimum requirements and additional recommendations for content of a third party audit report on management systems" was approved by ISO/CASCO members. WG 33 will start producing a Technical Specification (TS) in 2010.

For general information on active ISO/CASCO working groups, please visit this link.

ISO/CASCO liaisons

The application of the Latinoamerican Institute for Quality Assurance  (INLAC) has been accepted. This brings the number of organizations benefiting from an A liaison status with ISO/CASCO to 16.

Erratum: in our latest issue, we have omitted to mention IQNet in the list of our A liaisons. IQNet is an A liaison with ISO/CASCO since 2001. Apologies for this omission!

See the full list of organizations in liaison with ISO/CASCO

News from the Secretariat

ISO/CASCO membership as of 15/10/2009: P-members 72 – O-members 37

Results of the last systematic reviews
The ISO/CASCO members were consulted on the systematic reviews for ISO/IEC Guides 60, ISO/IEC 68, ISO/IEC 17030 and ISO/IEC 17040, and confirmed these documents with no need for revision.

Joint publication with UNIDO
"Building Trust - The Conformity Assessment Toolbox" is available for free in electronic format (PDF, 7.7 MB - Printed edition to follow by end 2009). A comprehensive, user-friendly handbook covering all aspects of conformity assessment and its role in international trade, and will be useful for business managers, regulators and consumer representatives. It is the latest in a series of joint publications issued by ISO and UNIDO.

ISO Survey 2008
The ISO Survey 2008 has been completed and will be published in November. The process was managed by the ISO/CASCO Secretariat for the second time and the following improvements were made:

• Review of the relationship with consultants
• Review of the database resulting in a higher level of confidence
• Updated methodology by the task group

ISO/CASCO workshop 2009
This year, the ISO/CASCO workshop will address the role of International Standards in managing the global supply chain and traceability. A dedicated website is already available and gathers the information. It will be updated regularly: www.iso.org/cascoworkshop2009.

ISO/CASCO interpretation process
The process and first interpretations are posted on the ISO/CASCO website. Since the ISO/CASCO plenary in October 2008, two interpretations were successfully finalized and posted on the ISO website: interpretation on clause 6.2.1 of ISO/IEC 17021:2006 (July 2009) and interpretation on clause 15 of ISO/IEC Guide 65:1996 (August 2009).
Five requests for interpretation are currently in process, one on ISO/IEC 17011 and four on ISO/IEC 17021:2006.

Other
Both ISO/CASCO Project Managers (Joyce Bleeker and Stefan Marinkovic) completed and passed an ISO 9001:2008 Auditor / Lead Auditor course (IRCA certified) organized by BSI.

ISO/CASCO diary

In the next issue (March 2010)

• Outcomes from the 2^nd ISO/CASCO workshop and plenary meeting
• IAF-ILAC Conference (October 2009, Vancouver, Canada)
• Update on ISO/CASCO policy and Working Groups