ANAB’s Figueiredo Elected to APAC Executive Committee

Reinaldo Figueiredo, ANAB’s Senior Director of Product/Process/Services Accreditation Programs, has been elected to serve on the Executive Committee of the Asia Pacific Accreditation Cooperation (APAC).

He will formally assume the position at the inaugural APAC Annual Meetings June 15-22 in Singapore and will serve a three-year term.

APAC was established on January 1, 2019, by the amalgamation of the Asia Pacific Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (APLAC) and the Pacific Accreditation Cooperation (PAC).

“I look forward to working with my colleagues at APAC to advance the role of accreditation in improving confidence in international trade and reducing technical barriers to trade,” Figueiredo said.

APAC’s primary role is managing and expanding a mutual recognition arrangement (MRA) among accreditation bodies in the Asia Pacific region. The MRA facilitates the acceptance of conformity assessment results (for example, test reports, test certificates, inspection reports, and certification) across the region and globally. Conformity assessment results that are produced by conformity assessment bodies that have been accredited by one APAC MRA signatory are accepted by all the other APAC MRA signatories. This mutual recognition and acceptance of conformity assessment results reduces the need for duplicate testing, inspection, or certification, thus saving time and money, increasing economic efficiency, and facilitating international trade.

APAC’s members include accreditation bodies and other organizations with an interest in accredited conformity assessment results. APAC has 45 full members that are signatories of the APAC MRA.

As of September 2018, these 45 APAC members had accredited more than 50,000 laboratories, inspection bodies, reference material producers, and proficiency testing providers, and more than 3,200 certification bodies and greenhouse gas validation and verification bodies. The accredited conformity assessment results of these bodies are accepted across the Asia Pacific region and internationally.

Other newly elected members of the APAC Executive Committee include Jennifer Evans of the National Association of Testing Authorities, Australia; Brahim Houla of the Gulf Cooperation Council Accreditation Center; Bruce Li of the Taiwan Accreditation Foundation; Kukuh Achmad of Indonesia’s Komite Akreditasi Nasional; Yuko Yoneoka of the Japan Accreditation Board; and Vu Xuan Thuy of Viet Nam’s Bureau of Accreditation.