ANNUAL GENERAL

MEETING 2013

REPORT FROM

DIRECTOR GENERAL

About IFIA

• A federation of independent organisations that provide testing, inspection and certification services, internationally

• Established in 1982

• Global membership of 44 testing and inspection companies - A combined turnover of approximately €15 billion and over 230,000

employees - Approximately 40% of membership turnover in Europe, 30% in Asia

Pacific, 20% in North America and 10% Rest of World

Objectives

• To improve the methods, standards, safety

procedures and rules used by its members

• To establish legally defensible terms and

conditions of business

• To promote global recognition of the profession

as being associated with trust and integrity

• To defend the interests of its members and

promote the value of their services

Main areas of activity

• Assuring and demonstrating the integrity of its

members – Compliance Code

• Fair and legal terms and conditions of

business

• Agreement on quality levels and necessary

elements for provision of services: Guidelines

and Codes of Practice

• Communication of industry positions to the

market: Bulletins

• Inspector Certification

• Representation and lobbying

IFIA Membership 2013 A1 (turnover >€800 Million) ALS Group Bureau Veritas Intertek SGS TŰV Rheinland Underwriters Laboratories B2 (€100M - €300M) Canadian Standards Association Cotecna Rina Saybolt C1 (€10M - €100M) Alex Stewart Alfred H Knight Amspec Baltic Control Camin Cargo Control Certispec Control Union World Group Geo Chem Overseas Merchandise Inspection (OMIC) PT Sucofindo Schutter Rotterdam

C2 turnover (<€10M) Abeni Surveyors Cargo Inspections Group Coastal Gulf & International Control Union International Control Quality Inspecoes Cugnier Certificadora CWM Survey & Inspection Engineering Bureau Franke Frey Rearq Helmsman QTS Inspecta International Inspekt RGH Maloney Commodity Services National Marine Consultants Oil Test Internacional P T Carsurin Ravi Energie Rechlin Russell Seatrans Consulting SGT Services (Thailand) SOEX Superinspect Universal Inspectorate & Services

Finances

• Member subscriptions for 2014 generate about £515,000

• Range of subscription £4,150 (C2) to £40,000 (A1)

• Projected total income 2014: £793,000

• Projected expenditure 2014: £783,000

• Reserves at start of 2013: £460,069

Committees

Agricultural & Vegetable Oils

Petroleum & Petrochemical Metals & Minerals Government Services

Industrial Services

Consumer & Industrial Products

Food

Social Auditing

Accreditation

Compliance

Legal

Membership/corresponding members

•Those unable to become committee members

in sectors where the committee is developing

material that is binding on the membership

automatically become corresponding members

•All IFIA members active in a sector are

encouraged to participate as committee

members

Agriculture & Vegetable Oils

• The Code of Practice covering the key elements of the

service members provide in this sector is in operation: the

first of the new CoPs in the commodity inspection area

• Four bulletins in preparation in areas where industry

practices expose members to risk

• Inspector Certification for liquid cargo inspection ready to

come into operation using the on-line examination system

newly underway for Petroleum inspectors

• Working with US grain exporters to persuade USDA to

open grain inspection for export to the private sector

Petroleum & Petrochemicals

• One Committee with two Regional Technical Committees (i)

Americas (ii) Africa/Asia/Europe (AAE)

• Code of Practice covering key elements of the service, with

particular emphasis on safety, near finalisation

• A number of bulletins published or in preparation to address

unclear interfaces with customers

• Collection of safety data used to demonstrate good record for

inspection in this field

• Inspector Certification available on-line globally:1312

candidates in first 9 months of 2013 (85% pass rate) excluding

c. 500 in America where we will be trialing remote proctoring

Metals & Minerals

• After long inactivity, the committee will meet in January

with some new members, and will decide on the scope of its

Code of Practice

• Will identify threats and opportunities that members can

address together

Industrial Services

• Following lobbying from this committee Shell has withdrawn

its burdensome Supplier Qualification System

• Projects on

– CE marking in the Pressure Equipment field

– Inter-Operability between Smart Grid components

• Co-ordination with a number of CEOC committees

Government Services

• PSI schemes that relate to tariff classification and

customs valuation have reduced to a handful in the lead

up to the WTO Agreement preventing member countries

operating such schemes (last week in Bali)

• Instead government contracts have diversified to

conformity assessment which is not subject to similar

attack

• IFIA members operating the new Code of Practice for

Consignment Based Conformity Assessment (CBCA) will

undergo their first audits covering activity in 2013 early

next year

Consumer & Industrial Products • The Committee has performed surveys of consumer products on the European

market carrying the CE marking, both those tested by a third party and those based on manufacturer’s declaration. The results are very much in favour of third party

• We are using the results to promote third party testing with the EU authorities, and to call into question the current requirements for CE marking

• In lobbying on new EU proposed legislation for product safety these results have strengthened our demand that product safety marking in Europe should only be done in combination with product certification by accredited third parties (such as IFIA member)

• CIPC is also orchestrating IFIA lobbying both sides of the Atlantic on the Transatlantic Trade & Investment Partnership proposals (TTIP). There are threats to guard against for our industry, but also opportunities to attack structural barriers to effective performance of TIC

• The Committee will be considering how to counter the threat to the integrity of its members’ services from the counterfeiting of marks etc

• IFIA is working in liaison with CEOC on these projects

Food

• Reconstituted Committee

• First priority to lobby standards owners where

the supply chain certification schemes do not

make the best use of the TIC industry’s services:

• British Retail Consortium (BRC)

• International Food Standard (IFS)

• Will also be reviewing country of origin marking

Social Auditing

• The IFIA Standard Operating Procedures established in the

China region are now being extended to the Indian sub-

continent, with similar networking between IFIA member

company representatives to counter corruption

• A Code of Practice to give better identity and protection to the

service is in preparation

• We are have established contact with the Global Social

Compliance Programme (GSCP) where Guidelines affecting

the service members deliver have so far been developed

without the input of TIC companies

Accreditation

• We are using our seat on the EA Advisory Board

(European Accreditation) to form alliances to counter the

limitations on TIC organisations using a single

accreditation body for the European market

• We have worked with CEOC to prevent ILAC

(International Accreditation) imposing most of their

proposed harmful extra requirements over and above

ISO/IEC 17020 on inspection companies

CEOC

• Further to the new MoU with CEOC we have worked increasingly with CEOC in sectors where both organisations are active (CIPC, Industrial Services, Accreditation).

• This co-operation has been particularly active when lobbying in Brussels on the proposed product safety and market surveillance legislation that could have major impact on TIC

• IFIA joined with CEOC in November to host what had hitherto been a purely CEOC annual Safety Seminar in Brussels, where we submitted a joint Position Paper (also with EUROLAB) to Commissioner Mimica (Consumer Policy) on the proposed new EU Safety Tested Mark

Lobbying

•As from 1 July 2013 IFIA has engaged FTI Consulting as its lobbying

consultant in Brussels. This is a new way of working for IFIA

• Council has appointed an Advisory Group which assisted in the selecting

FTI and is overseeing the project

• Specialist groups are appointed by the relevant IFIA Committee to oversee

particular projects: so far both from CIPC for:

• EU Product Safety and Market Surveillance legislation (including

proposals for a new safety mark)

• Transatlantic Trade & Investment Partnership (TTIP)

• Medical Devices and EU – China trade talks are identified as further topics where it is anticipated that lobbying by IFIA will be beneficial for members

State Owned TIC Enterprises (SOE)

• China. We are in discussion with CCIC who want to apply for IFIA

membership, but cannot at present because they are state owned.

• Negotiations will determine whether CCIC can become a useful (in

particular in terms of facilitating access to Chinese TIC markets) and

transparently compliant member of IFIA, in which case we will consider

changing our rules to allow them into membership, on conditions that

can equally apply to SOEs from other countries

• Indonesia. PT Sucofindo, although an SOE, is already a member of

IFIA, and we are proposing to await the reults of the China negotiations

before taking decisions on next steps

International Federation of Inspection Agencies

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London EC4M 7DX

United Kingdom

T: +44 20 7653 1604

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