Nist to Play Leadership Role in Ilac

NIST TO PLAY LEADERSHIP ROLE IN ILAC A NIST representative was unanimously elected vicechair of the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation at the 14th meeting of ILAC in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, recently. As a result, the NIST representative becomes the chair-elect and will assume that position when the group meets in Australia in 1998. ILAC was established in 1977 as the International Laboratory Accreditation Conference. The name was changed to “cooperation” at the recent meeting, and a more formal structure was established in recognition of the importance of laboratory accreditation worldwide. Under the World Trade Organization and provisions of the agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade, conformity assessment practitioners are required to create an efficient, transparent, fair, and harmonized means for the international acceptance of trade goods. The laboratory accreditation community has been cited as a crucial element in a worldwide system needed to facilitate trade.