Korea hosts 11th IECEE annual meeting

This year's IECEE Certification Management Committee (CMC) General Meeting took place on Jeju Island, Korea, on 11-12 June 2008. The meeting was hosted by Korean IECEE Member Body KATS (the Korean Agency for Technology and Standards) and its associated NCBs (National Certification Bodies). Approximately 150 delegates participated from some 50 member countries.

Yoo Chong Chu, Director of Electrical & Telecommunications, Product Safety Division, KATS, opened the 11th IECEE CMC meeting and welcomed the participants. He stated that the Certification Management Committee plays a critical role in directing the efforts of the IECEE towards the facilitation of global trade through the mutual recognition of test data from participating NCBs and direct acceptance from the marketplace.

He said that Korea would change its mandatory safety certification system in early January 2009 to a more flexible system called Self-Regulatory Safety Confirmation System. He underlined that in Korea, IEC standards are extensively drawn upon to guide, develop and serve domestic and international manufacturers.

He stated that this year’s meeting carried significance for Korea’s efforts to strengthen its safety certification system and that KATS and the associated NCBs, such as ERI (Korea EMC Research Institute), KETI (Korea Electric Testing Institute), KERI (Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute) and KTL (Korea Testing Laboratory), would strongly support the IECEE’s efforts to help the electrotechnical industry and all concerned parties to produce and trade safe products.

Following Yoo Chong Chu’s address, the participants focused on the agenda, dealing with a variety of topics that led to a number of actions and decisions of particular importance to all IECEE members and stakeholders.

Discussions during the meeting involved such management issues as strategy and policy in business development; the election of the Board of Appeal Chairman, Members and Alternates; and the approval of the new process of accounts and budgets.

Items related to IECEE activities were also on the agenda and centered on the On-Line IECEE CB-Bulletin database, launched earlier this year; the growth of IECEE Peer Assessment activities; the training of IECEE Technical Assessors; automated Test Report Forms; and, finally, the organization of workshops on Risk Management for the Electromedical Sector and on software evaluation.

The recognition of the CB Scheme and Full Certification Scheme by APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) was also highlighted.

PV GAP
One item on the agenda was the launch of the IECEE PV GAP services. Under the agreement signed earlier this year between IECEE and PV GAP (the Global Approval Program for Photovoltaics), IECEE is now the exclusive provider of the PV Mark through its NCBs (National Certification Bodies). For a transition period until the end of the year, PV GAP retains overall responsibility before transferring full ownership of the Mark to IECEE (see the May 2008 e-tech). This is obviously a major development in the IECEE photovoltaics sector of activity. All NCB members must keep abreast of all issues pertaining to the issuing of the PV GAP Mark.

Hazardous substances
In today’s environmentally-conscious world, more and more countries make rules to limit the use of hazardous substances in manufactured products. This global concern is also one that the IECEE thought essential and wanted to address. This is why hazardous substances was another key item on the agenda. The development of product analysis to identify hazardous substances was discussed thoroughly by all participants.

In conclusion, IECEE Executive Secretary Pierre de Ruvo said: "The IECEE has been thriving for many years but there is still room for development and growth. The meeting was extremely productive and successful, reflecting our achievements in the past year."