Sri Lanka to host Joint Annual Asia Pacific Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation forum

The Sri Lanka Accreditation Board (SLAB) celebrated World Accreditation Day 2015 on 9 June at the Kingsbury Hotel, Colombo. About 150 professionals and academics involved in accreditation activities participated in the celebrations. 

“This is the seventh consecutive year the SLAB is celebrating the World Accreditation Day. Each year, the International Accreditation Forum (IAF) and International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC), which are the apex bodies in the world for accreditation, jointly decide on a common theme. This year’s theme was ‘Accreditation; supported delivery of health and social care,” said SLAB Chairman Namal Rajapaksa. 

The celebrations included a technical seminar on the theme, a media conference and an evening get together. SLAB announced the second joint annual Asia Pacific Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (APLAC) General Assembly and Pacific Accreditation Cooperation (PAC) Plenary Meetings would be held in Sri Lanka from 12 to 21 June, at the media conference.

The 10-day program will include joint and separate technical sessions, seminars, workshops, committee meetings, general assemblies, technical visits and the 20th anniversary celebration of PAC. The APLAC program meeting will also include a training session on ISO/IEC 17020 standard and committee meetings on public information, technical subjects, proficiency testing and training; while the PAC meetings will include committee meetings on communication, marketing and capacity building; working group meetings on person certification, product certification GHG and energy measurement, Halal certification and organic certification.

“Accreditation of Medical Laboratories by SLAB provides an effective framework for assuring reliability in medical testing and assists medical professionals and the general public to select a reliable testing service. An accredited laboratory gives the assurance to the user that the test results could be relied upon. The areas that are covered under SLAB accreditation scheme for health and social care are diagnostic imaging testing, physiological science services, medical supporting services, residential care, home inspection, medical laboratory accreditation and point of care testing,” said SLAB Director Thilak Wickremasinghe. 

The Asia Pacific Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (APLAC) is a cooperation of accreditation bodies in the Asia Pacific region that accredits laboratories, inspection bodes and reference material producers. APLAC provides a forum for exchange of information to improve the standard of accreditation services and to maintain mutual confidence in the technical competence among member bodies through multilateral mutual recognition arrangements (MRA). APLAC has a membership of 42 full members and 11 associate members and is recognised by the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC). 

The Pacific Accreditation Cooperation (PAC) is an association of accreditation bodies and other interested parties whose objective is to facilitate trade and commerce among economies in the Asia Pacific region. PAC creates a global system that grants international recognition of certification or registration of management systems, products, services, personnel and other programs of conformity assessment and promotes the international acceptance of accreditations granted by its member bodies, based on the equivalence of their accreditation programs through multilateral recognition arrangements (MLA). 

PAC is a regional body in the Asia Pacific Region recognised by IAF for certification programs. At present there are 31 full members, four associate members, two observers and one corresponding members within the PAC membership. 2015 marks PAC’s 20th anniversary.