From the President’s desk

Dear Members:

One of the current initiatives of our association is to establish partnerships with other International Organizations related to the laboratory industry, to jointly safeguard the interests of our associates in relevant international forums such as ILAC, ISO, IAF, and EA. In 2013, we devoted special efforts to strengthen our relationships with other organizations.

On the invitation of ARAC (Arab Accreditation Conference), on March 25 and 26, Jan Soers - Vice President, Luc Scholtis - Secretary General, and myself, as President of UILI, attended the International conference and General Assembly of ARAC held in Marrakesh. ARAC is new regional accreditation body which will serve fourteen (14) Arabic countries. At this meeting, we were witnesses to the signing ceremony of ARAC as a member of ILAC and also to MOUs signed with different organizations: UNIDO, AFRAC, and NCA. We had the opportunity to meet influential people with whom we can try to promote UILI.

Last April 9 in Woerdem, Holland, UILI signed an MOU with EUROLAB. A committee comprised of three Governing Board Members of UILI and three members from EUROLAB was formed to follow up and implement the objectives of the MOU. As a first example of collaboration, UILI has sent a letter to ILAC Laboratory Liaison Committee expressing their support for a EUROLAB proposal in relation to the document P10 about ILAC's policy on traceability of calibrations.

Likewise we have recently received a proposal by the CEOC (International Confederation of Inspection and Certification Organizations) to sign a MOU; the Governing members of the Board of UILI are currently evaluating it to give a response.