‘The First International Accreditation Day' Seminar in Korea

On June 9, KOLAS held a commemorative seminar for the first International Accreditation Day,

designated by the International Accreditation Forum (IAF) and the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC), to raise public awareness of the significance of the accreditation system and publicize the value and credibility of accreditation.

“The First International Accreditation Day Seminar” was hosted by KOLAS, under the Korean Agency for Technology and Standards (KATS), organized by Korea Testing & Research Institute (KTR) and sponsored by The Seoul Economic Daily, with the participation of about 200 national and international experts in accreditation, interested parties, accredited organizations, assessors, and other specialists.

 Trust, the theme for this year’s International Accreditation Day, was chosen to highlight the way in which accreditation practices are harmonized worldwide to underpin global free 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.

In order to secure the credibility of testing reports issued by KOLAS-accredited laboratories, KOLAS has operated an accreditation system based on organization, experts and process appropriate to internationally recognized standards.

 The commemorative seminar covered a review of the historical background, significance of the accreditation system, effects and need for Mutual Recognition Arrangement (MRA) along with introduction of a case study that Ottogi Co., Ltd., which is one of Korea’s food enterprises, advanced successfully into the European market with a KOLAS-accredited internationally recognized testing report.

 Furthermore, information on KOLAS'' basic direction for on-site assessment, status of international harmonization as well as policy for operating the accreditation system was provided at the seminar.

 This event is expected to contribute to informing relevant stakeholders, including accreditation bodies, accredited organizations and the general public, of the importance of accreditation and international trends relating to accreditation systems.