The first signing of the Pacific Accreditation Cooperation (PAC) Multilateral Recognition Agreement (MLA) occurred in Guangzhou, China, on 24 January 1998. The first four members of PAC to join the MLA were the China National Accreditation Council for Registrars (CNACR), the Joint Accreditation System of Australia and New Zealand (JAS-ANZ), the Standards Council of Canada (SCC), and the Japan Accreditation Board for Conformity Assessment (JAB).

Signing of the MLA followed a detailed evaluation of each of the signatories’ accreditation programs. These evaluations were conducted jointly with the International Accreditation Forum (IAF), using the published IAF Procedures, under the direction of a Joint IAF/PAC Interim MLA Management Committee. Following the evaluations, the Joint Committee recommended that the four PAC applicants be invited to sign to both the PAC and the IAF MLA’s. This recommendation was endorsed by the members of PAC.

The consequence of joining the PAC MLA is that ISO 9000 conformity assessment certificates issued by certification / registration bodies accredited by any one of the four members of the MLA will be recognised both in the world wide IAF program and in the Asia-Pacific Region.

The first signing of the PAC MLA was a considerable achievement, and a major step in achieving one of PAC’s major objectives. PAC was established as an association of accreditation bodies operating in the Asia Pacific region in July 1995. One of its primary objectives was to develop multilateral recognition of conformity assessment accreditations within the framework of the International Accreditation Forum. It has achieved that objective in only two and a half years.

PAC will now assist other members to meet the program requirements for membership of the MLA. It is PAC’s objective that in the future certification / registration bodies in most of the economies in the Asia-Pacific Region will be able to issue conformity assessment certificates which will be recognised throughout the world.

The Fourth Meeting of the PAC Plenary was held in Chiba, Japan, on 3 June, 1997. PAC now has twelve Full Members and four Associate Members.

At the 1997 meeting PAC changed its structure to better manage its affairs. The Plenary has delegated more responsibilities to the Executive Committee, including responsibility for managing the MLA peer assessment program and for managing the MLA.

PAC decided that, as a matter of policy, it would adopt IAF application guidance, policy and procedure documents with only the minimum change needed to meet PAC needs. As a consequence of that decision, PAC had abolished all Working Groups responsible for application guidance, policy and procedure documents. A new Technical Committee was established, consisting of one representative from each PAC member. The Technical Committee will be responsible for assessing IAF application guidance, policy and procedure documents, and suggesting any changes to meet PAC needs.

As part of the restructure agreed in Japan, PAC is has revised its Memorandum of Understanding to clarify the role of the Executive Committee and to vary its membership and voting rules. The criteria for Associate Membership has been widened to include any national, regional or international organisations which represent the interests of a group or groups of those involved in the use or implementation of programmes for certification or registration, and which subscribe to the objectives of PAC.

The rules for voting in PAC meetings now provide that all members have an equal vote, subject only that the total number of votes from Associate Members may not exceed one third of the total of the votes from Full Members.

PAC also decided to simplify its method of calculating membership fees, which will in future be the same for all member bodies.

The Fifth meeting of PAC will be held at the Gold Coast, Queensland, in the first week of November 1998.

Current members of PAC are –

Full Members: