Many ISO’s developing country members provide conformity assessment services (such as certification, testing, inspection …etc.) on a commercial basis or they may be operated or mandated by the government. These services represent one of the major sources of funding and financial sustainability of such organizations.
The conformity assessment activities should follow the requirements contained in the appropriate international standards, developed by the ISO’s Committee on Conformity Assessment (CASCO), to ensure consistency worldwide and facilitate cross-border acceptance of results, making regional and international trade easier. The WTO TBT agreement asks the WTO members to use international standards or guides issued by international standardizing bodies as a basis for national procedures for conformity assessment.
The ISO Capacity Building unit, in collaboration with the secretariat of ISO’s Committee on Conformity Assessment (CASCO) is organizing a virtual regional workshop on product certification based on ISO/IEC 17065 and 17067.
Workshop objectives and format
The ISO virtual regional workshop aims to achieve the following objectives:
- Provide requisite knowledge and understanding of the internationally agreed standards on the requirements for bodies certifying products, processes and services as well as the fundamentals and guidelines for product certification schemes.
- Define terminology and identify documents, best practices, and other resources that can be helpful in building an understanding of these standards.
- Identify the content (including types of documents and data) that may be helpful in demonstrating compliance with each requirement and how this content is reviewed during an assessment.
- Discuss the accreditation requirements for ISO/IEC 17065.
- Provide a forum for exchange of experiences and to promote discussion among the target audience.
The virtual workshop consists of many technical sessions that will be delivered throughout four days and spaced over two weeks with plenty of opportunity for group activities, group discussions and individual working to get the most out of it and build long-term knowledge retention. The participants will be asked to work together in asynchronous format during the two weeks on an assignment and share their work result on the last day of workshop. Further details will be provided to the participants in due course.
Target audience
The workshop will target a total of 22 participants nominated by the ISO members from 22 English speaking African countries. The participants represent the following:
- Staff members of the national standards bodies who are directly involved in product certification activities, and
- Staff members of the national accreditation bodies who are directly involved in accreditation of product certification schemes.
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When
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Day 4: -
Where
Virtual workshop
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Language
English
Speakers
A big thank you to the International Trade Center (ITC) for providing a dedicated platform for the delivery of this virtual workshop to create a comprehensive remote workshop experience, with the active involvement of the ISO trainers.
