China hosts IECQ annual meetings

IECQ 2009 participants

This year, at the invitation of CEPREI (China Electronic Product Reliability and Environmental Testing Research Institute) and CNCA (Certification and Accreditation Administration of the People’s Republic of China), the IECQ National Authorized Institution (NAI) for China, IECQ, the IEC Quality Assessment System for Electronic Components, held its annual series of meetings on 11-15 May in Guangzhou, China.

The following committees and experts groups met during the week-long event:

• IECQ CAG (Chairman's Advisory Group) on 11 May
• IECQ CB Training Workshop on 12 May
• IECQ Business Development and Marketing Subcommittee on 12 May
• IECQ CABC (Conformity Assessment Bodies Committee) on 13 May
• IECQ MC (Management Committee) on 14 May
• WG 4 - IECQ Specialist Working Group and WG 4 – ECMP (Electronic Component Management Plan) on 15 May

In addition to the regular meetings, the IECQ CB Training Workshop, organized for the first time in conjunction with the annual meetings, was extremely well attended and positively received by all participants (see the May 2009 e-tech).

Highlights of the Management Committee meeting

IEC Vice-President Hiromichi Fujisawa, who began his term as Chairman of the Conformity Assessment Board (CAB) on 1 January 2009, was present at the MC and WG 4 meetings.

The IECQ Management Committee adopted a new five-year Strategy Document complementing the IECQ Business Plan. As part of this new strategy, it was agreed to allow potential new member countries to attend IECQ MC meetings as observers, without payment of dues, for up to two consecutive years.

The structural revision of the IECQ programme documentation is underway and will eventually replace the complete QC 001002 series of documents. The objective of this review is to update references to and compliance with ISO/IEC Standards and Guides, to simplify the terminology used in the documentation, to ensure consistency among the IECQ Schemes and to include references to the On-Line Certification System. The following drafts were approved during the meeting:

• IECQ 04, Rules and procedures for ECMP (Electronic Component Management Plan)
• IECQ 05, Rules and procedures for HSPM (Hazardous Substances Process Management)

The issue of training programmes was also discussed in Guangzhou. While IECQ does not provide training itself, it recognizes the benefits to be gained from having a single training system for all its partners, including certification bodies and industry. IECQ MC considered a proposal to recognize independently qualified training programmes for its stakeholders.

Business Development and Marketing

The 2009 series of meetings saw the inaugural meeting of the Business Development and Marketing Subcommittee (SC 01). The Subcommittee noted the work carried out to increase awareness of the IECQ System on the market and praised the achievements of the past year, including:

• The new look and improvement of the IECQ website
• The overhaul of the On-Line Certificate System and review of IECQ Certificate templates
• The introduction of IEC e-tech articles on IECQ each month and library of past articles on the IECQ website
• IECQ Officers’ participation in major events, e.g. the presentation made by the Executive Secretary at the 2009 ASEAN Conference in Singapore
• The communication work carried out by the ECCB (Electronics Component Certification Board), the US NAI, resulting in articles and videos in Quality Digest

The proposal to have future SC 01 meetings broken down into two separate parts, with the first open to observers and the second for members only, met with IECQ MC approval. A second proposal, to make greater use of electronic communication means, was also approved.

ECMP

An ad hoc group of the specialist Working Group for ECMP, WG 4, also met as part of the 2009 IECQ annual meetings and this opportunity was used to review the updated revision of OD 702, Operational Document ECMP Assessment, Evidence of Compliance Summary and Assessment Reporting Form, providing a complete checklist for the assessment against IEC TS 62239, Process management for avionics - Preparation of an electronic components management plan. The group also discussed the issue of counterfeit within the aerospace industry and will be considering a proposal for addressing this issue. In addition to the IECQ Chairman and Secretary, WG 4 is made up of experts from Airbus, Boeing, GE Aviation UK, Goodrich, Honeywell, Northrup Grumman, LCIE (Laboratoire central des industries électriques), the US Department of Defense, CEPREI and RCJ (Reliability Center for Electronic Components of Japan).