|
Discipline-Related Publications
Conformity Assessment
ACIL RELEASES NEW ACCREDITATION DOCUMENT TO ASSIST EMC AND RADIO TESTING LABORATORIES
WASHINGTON, DC, 24 JANUARY 2002—The American Council of Independent Laboratories (ACIL) today released a comprehensive document that will assist the principal accreditation bodies and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to expand electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) laboratories scopes of accreditation on a routine basis and in a cost-effective manner.
“Technical Criteria for the Accreditation of Electromagnetic Compatibility and Radio Testing Laboratories” was prepared over three years by the EMC Laboratory Accreditation Working Group of ACIL in cooperation with representatives of the National Voluntary Laboratory Accreditation Program (NVLAP), A2LA and the FCC. The 143-page document will be distributed on a complimentary basis to assessors to use in the conduct of their assessments and is available for purchase from ACIL office. The need for accreditation has become an increasing burden on EMC and telecommunications testing laboratories with the proliferation of product-specific test standards within the European Community and the creation of Telecommunications Certification Bodies (TCBs) within the United States. This ACIL document provides an accreditation scheme based on EMC and radio test phenomena, rather than standard specific requirements. This method will also allow swifter, cost-effective extensions of laboratories’ scopes, without sacrificing the technical integrity of the accreditation.
The document was prepared by ACIL in response to requests from member laboratories to reduce the time and cost of the accreditation process by improving the efficiency of the assessments necessary for technically similar, or in some cases identical, EMC or radio test methods.
The document allows for the inclusion of specific test standards in a laboratory’s scope of accreditation based upon demonstration of technical competence in a basic set of test elements. It presents these basic elements in a set of core EMC and radio test methods upon which most standards, for which accreditation is desired, are based. It further serves to provide a method by which both current and future standard-specific requirements may be incorporated into a laboratory’s scope of accreditation. The document is available electronically from ACIL at a cost of $59 to ACIL members and $94 to non-members, which includes a site license for unlimited reproduction rights within one testing facility. To obtain a copy of this document, click here .
|
|
