EL_07_02_BoA_026

EUROLAB Board of Administrators’ Meeting

1. Welcome and practical arrangements

The EUROLAB president opened the meeting and welcomed the participants.

Participants:Jiří Sobola (President), Jeff Llewellyn (Vice President), José Luis Sanchez Alvarez-Campana, Jan Basten, Ömer Güzel, Álvaro Ribeiro, Peter Blinksbjerg, Dagmar Kotová, Drewin Nieuwenhuis, Franziska Kassler, Stefano Putzu

Apologies: Manfred Golze, Irache Visiers, Philippe Dewolfs, Marios Avraam

2. Approval of the Agenda

  • It has been decided to put the item “Status change” on the agenda of the second day of the meeting. The point was made that in order to be a global organisation, the Board needs to change the membership rules and open them to non-EU members.
  • The agenda was approved.

3. Approval of the minutes of the last meeting in Teddington (EL_07_02_BoA_024)

  • The minutes were approved with the following modifications:
  • item 10 “Dates of next meeting”: 4th – 5th December 2012 in Brussels

4. Information on the position of EUROLAB-CZ to its representation in EUROLAB aisbl.

  • Jiří Sobola was supported by EUROLAB CZ as its representative in EUROLAB aisbl. It allows for continuity in his position within Eurolab aisbl.

5. EUROLAB membership issues

- BULLAB

  • Jan Basten informed the Board members about e-mail exchanges with BULLAB.
  • The Board agreed that Jiří Sobola will go to Bulgaria and discuss the membership issues with BULLAB.

- Crolab

The Board has agreed to welcome CROLAB as an active member of EUROLAB starting from July 2013.

- ALPI

The Board has agreed that ALPI is going to pay the full membership fee and that EUROLAB will provide them contribution by giving presentations in meetings organised by or together with ALPI in the framework of membership development activities.

- MAKLAB

  • Jiří Sobola informed the Board on the intention of MAKLAB in becoming an International Affiliate member of EUROLAB.
  • The Board is in favour of MAKLAB accession to EUROLAB as International Affiliate and decided to invite them to the next General Assembly.
  • The Board has requested EUROLAB Secretariat to send all information regarding application for membership to MAKLAB.

- MoU – EUROLAB and UILI (cooperation)

It has been decided that 1st bullet point of item 2:”Regular consultation will be ensured between the EUROLAB Board of Administrators and UILI Board of Directors in order to:”

“co-ordinate the content and programming of conferences, workshops, ILP (Interlaboratory Profiency Testing Exercices) and seminars.”

Should be changed to:

“co-ordinate the content and programming of conferences, workshops, Profiency Testing (PT) and Interlaboratory Comparison (IMC), Reference Materials (RM) and seminars.”

  • EUROLAB Board has decided to meet in Barcelona in September 2013 in order to evaluate in which area future cooperation is possible with UILI.

6. EUROLAB Galaxy/Reimbursement of Travel and Accommodation costs, links to ILAC Galaxy

  • Irache Visiers prepared for the Board a document listing the rules for nominating EUROLAB representatives which activities are related to TCQA committee. The document has been discussed by the Board, which has decided that it should be applied for all nominations of EUROLAB representatives.
  • TCQA Secretariat will revise rules for nomination of EUROLAB representatives
  • The ILAC Inspection Committee will be added to the Galaxy and the current EUROLAB representative for EA IC W. Hinrich will be informed and future co-operation with ILAC IC will be discussed.
  • Jiří Sobola will contact ISO/CASCO’s Secretary General referring to liaison status of EUROLAB offering active participation of EUROLAB in discussions concerning revision of ISO 17025 which is a matter of key importance for its members.
  • In the event that EUROLAB’s was accepted, Mr. Peter Blinksbjerg will be EUROLAB representative for ISO/CASCO CPC.
  • The Board has agreed to improve visibility of EUROLAB. The EUROLAB Secretariat will complete the following tasks:
  • prepare a general PowerPoint presentation
  • produce the 2013 Annual Report
  • regularly inform EUROLAB members about technical issues within their assigned field of expertise.
  • EUROLAB Secretariat was asked to distribute the draft agenda of the next meeting two weeks in advance. Each Board member will then prepare short report to the points of the agenda related to their respective assigned field.
  • Jan Basten has presented the EUROLAB Budget of 2013. The Board members appreciated his work and the transparency of the bookkeeping.
  • The Board agreed to rise the service fees for CEOC in the budget 2013 with 6000€ in order to cover expenses for an extra internship position at EUROLAB. The budget still has to be decided on in the GA of April 2013.
  • Jiří Sobola asked each member to prepare a document presenting ways to enhance EUROLAB visibility.
  • The Board members have agreed that in addition to the quarterly newsbriefing. EUROLAB would publish four times per year a digital “Board Briefing” focusing on decisions and actions taken by EUROLAB Board.
  • The Board has agreed that after the final update of the EUROLAB Galaxy the EUROLAB Secretariat will send a document to Mr Sanchez who will discuss overlapping issues with UILI.
  • The Board has agreed that the Galaxy needs to be updated by EUROLAB Secretariat. This update has to be discussed with Manfred Golze (Chairman TCQA) to find out about horizontal linkage of EA working groups and ILAC. It should also be in line with organisational hierarchy of EUROLAB.
  • The Board has agreed that the call for vacancies in the Galaxy is going to start after Manfred Golze’s evaluation of the importance of the committees.

7. Report from GA ILAC/IAF – Laboratory Committee, Inspection Committee, AIC membership, better position of EUROLAB in ILAC/IAF structure and report from the EA General Assembly

  • Jiří Sobola reported from the GA ILAC/IAF. Important points were:
  • EUROLAB’s position on ILAC P10 regarding the hierarchy of alternatives for achieving and demonstrating traceability.
  • EUROLAB is now member of the ILAC Inspection Committee (ILAC IC).
  • EUROLAB continues its activities in ILAC LC (Laboratory Committee)
  • EUROLAB will represent ILAC LC in ILAC ARC (Arrangement Committee)

For further details please see his report.

  • Jiří Sobola reported from the EA General Assembly in Bratislava. Important points were:
  • Latest developments with regards to sectorial schemes (eg. The cooperation between DG CLIMA and EA regarding Carbon Emissions)
  • There will be an EA Chief Executive located in Brussels
  • The new EA HHC Chairman comes from ENAC
  • EA 2/17 will be revised
  • The SOGS Group will become an advisory committee on accreditation

For further details please see his report.

8. EUROLAB Statutes Change

  • The intention of the Board is to enable the possibility of a full membership to non-EU applicants.
  • Jeff Llewellyn has been appointed to review EUROLAB key documents and create a general discussion paper of the revised EUROLAB statutes and internal procedures. It has been decided that the final draft statutes of EUROLAB including organisation chart and relevant internal regulations are going to be submitted to a lawyer specialised in aisbl type of organisations for final revision.

9. Involvement of calibration laboratories, EUROCAL

  • It is important for EUROLAB to discuss with EURAMET matters related to new organisation for calibration laboratories with EUROCAL.(Remark made by Jan Basten “Didn’t we mean the access to the Metrology Research Programme EMRP?)
  • EUROLAB should encourage national members to embrace national calibration laboratories.
  • The Board members have appointed Jeff Llewellyn to arrange a meeting with chairman of EURAMET Hussein Kamal.

10. Accreditation for notification, 1 Plus System, CPR

  • It has been decided that TCQA is going to discuss 1 Plus system.

11. Questionnaire on Membership of National EUROLAB’s

  • The questionnaire has been presented and it has been agreed that for the next Board Meeting a final evaluation will be made by Jeff Llewellyn and EUROLAB Secretariat with recommendations on refining the research.

12. Questionnaire on Product Testing – comparison of costs

  • The questionnaire has been presented and has been highly valued by the Board.
  • The document has been considered as an important example showing that the price of product testing is not hindering the manufacturers to use services of EUROLAB-member laboratories.

13. Position of EUROLAB for the need of Systematic Market Surveillance

  • The Board members have decided that Mr Avraam will revise the position paper of EUROLAB for the need of Systematic Market Surveillance.

14. Call for Experts: Blue Guide

  • The Blue Guide initiative for call for experts has been presented
  • The Board has been informed about the development of the revision which is under the umbrella of the JTCPTC committee.
  • So far, 28 people have agreed to participate to the Blue Guide call for experts and they have been added to one or more Working Groups.

15. General Assembly 2013

The following members of the Board stand for re-election:

- Jiří Sobola (President)

- Jeff Llewellyn (Vice-President)

- Jan Basten (Treasurer)

- Manfred Golze (Board Member)

- José Luis Sanchez Alvarez-Campana (Board Member)

  • Due to the current unstable situation in Lebanon and advices from ministries of foreign affairs in number of Member States, the Board has decided that the next GA in Beirut organised by IRI will be postponed until further notice. President of EUROLAB Jiří Sobola will contact the Director General of IRI Dr. Bassam Frenn to inform him about the decision.
  • Jan Basten has proposed to organise the next General Assembly in the Netherlands. He will give feedback on the availability of this option.

16. Dates of next meetings

  • The next Board Meeting will take place on 21st – 22nd February 2013
  • The 2013 General Assembly is going to take place on 8th – 9th – 10th April.

List of Tasks and Decisions

for the Eurolab BoA

Tasks and Decisions / Person in charge / Deadline
J. Sobola will go to Bulgaria and discuss the membership with BULLAB / J. Sobola / Asap
The Board has agreed to welcome CROLAB as an active member of EUROLAB starting from July 2013
The Board has agreed that ALPI is going to pay the full membership fee
The Board has agreed that EUROLAB will provide ALPI with contributions by giving presentations at ALPI meetings / Board / Ongoing
MAKLAB will be invited to the next GA / EUROLAB General Secretariat / Before the next GA
All information regarding application for membership will be sent to MAKLAB / EUROLAB General Secretariat / Asap
MoU – EUROLAB and UILI: change of 1st bullet point of item 2 / Done
EUROLAB Board has decided to meet in Barcelona in September 2013 in order to evaluate in which area future cooperation is possible with UILI
Revised proposal by Irache Visiers for nomination of representatives : procedure will be used for nomination of all representatives
Revision for the rules for nomination of EUROLAB representatives / TCQA Secretariat / Done
Add ILAC IC to EUROLAB Galaxy / EUROLAB General Secretariat / Ongoing
W. Hinrich will be consulted in matters related to ILAC IC / EUROLAB General Secretariat / Ongoing
Jiří Sobola will contact ISO/CASCO’s Secretary General referring to liaison status of EUROLAB offering active participation of EUROLAB in discussions concerning revision of ISO 17025 which is a matter of key importance for its members. / J. Sobola / Ongoing
In the event that EUROLAB’s liaison status is accepted, Peter Blinksbjerg will be EUROLAB representative for ISO/CASCO CPC
The Board has agreed to improve visibility of EUROLAB
Prepare a general EUROLAB presentation / EUROLAB General Secretariat / Ongoing
Produce an Annual Report for 2013 / EUROLAB General Secretariat / End of 2013
Regularly inform EUROLAB members about technical issues within their assigned field of expertise / EUROLAB General Secretariat / Ongoing
Distribute draft agenda two weeks in advance of the Board meeting / EUROLAB General Secretariat / Two weeks in advance
Summarise the points of the agenda that have been assigned to individual Board members / Each Board member / Each Board meeting
Rise service fees for CEOC International of 6000€
Prepare a document presenting ways to enhance EUROLAB visibility / Board members / Next Board meeting
Publish four times a year a digital “Board Briefing” / Communication Group and EUROLAB General Secretariat / Four times per year after Board meetings
Update of the EUROLAB Galaxy / EUROLAB General Secretariat / Asap
Send updated Galaxy to J. Sanchez / EUROLAB General Secretariat / Asap
J. Sanchez to discuss overlapping issues with UILI / J. Sanchez / Asap
Discuss Galaxy updates with M. Golze / EUROLAB General Secretariat and M. Golze / Asap
Call for vacancies in the Galaxy / EUROLAB General Secretariat / After initial update of Galaxy
Review key EUROLAB documents and create a general discussion paper of the revised EUROLAB statutes / J. Llewellyn / Next Board meeting
Submit final draft statutes and internal rules to a lawyer / EUROLAB General Secretariat / As soon as final draft is available
Arrange meeting with EUROAMET Chairman / J. Llewellyn / Asap
Discuss 1 Plus system / TCQA / Next TCQA meeting
Final evaluation on the questionnaire on membership / J. Llewellyn and EUROLAB General Secretariat / Next Board meeting
Revision of the EUROLAB position on Systematic Market Surveillance / M. Avraam / Next Board Meeting
J. Sobola will send a letter to IRI about the GA in Lebanon / J. Sobola / Asap
J. Basten will give feedback on hosting the next GA in The Netherlands / J. Basten / Asap

EUROLAB Secretariat
Rue du Commerce 20-22
B-1000, Brussels
Belgium / Telephone:
Telefax:
E-mail:
Website: / + 32 2 511 50 65
+ 32 2 502 50 47