1. National Accreditation Bureau of Latvia NATIONAL ACCREDITATION SYSTEM IN LATVIA Olga Veilande, Head of LATAK

2.  Latvian National Accreditation System consists of:  Latvian National Accreditation institution LATAK;  Latvian National Accreditation Council;  Branch Technical committees for accreditation.

3. To maintain a unified and internationally recognized national accreditation system in Latvia, in accordance with European and international standards, as well as provide an international recognition of results issued by bodies accredited by Latvian National Accreditation Bureau LATAK

4.  to assess, accredit and supervise certification and inspection bodies and testing and calibration laboratories and environmental verifiers in accordance with the requirements of Latvian National standards, normative acts, European and international standards;  To organize proficiency testing and co-ordinate interlaboratory comparison in accordance with the local and international requirements;  To co-operate with other National accreditation bodies;  To represent Latvia in international accreditation organizations;  To maintain and update data base on accredited bodies.

5. The Latvian National Accreditation Council is a consultative advisory body for the accreditation of testing and calibration laboratories and certification and inspection bodies and environmental verifiers in the regulated and non- regulated area.

6.  Main functions of the Council are as follows: ◦to participate in the drawing up of the State policy on the accreditation of testing and calibration laboratories, certification and inspection bodies and environmental verifiers and supervision of their operation in line with the requirements of normative acts; ◦to participate in the formulation and assessment of regulatory instruments and accreditation procedures for the Latvian National Accreditation System; ◦to promote the co-operation with international and foreign accreditation bodies.

7.  representatives of the State interest: ◦Ministry of Economics; ◦Ministry of Transport; ◦Ministry of Health; ◦Ministry of Environment; ◦Ministry of Agriculture  representatives of the interest of accreditation bodies: ◦Latvian National Accreditation Bureau; ◦Latvian National Metrology Institute; ◦Latvian Standard.

8.  representatives of the interest of clients of conformity assessment bodies: ◦Latvian Chamber of Commerce and Industry; ◦Latvian Employers Confederation;  representative of interest of consumers: ◦Consumer Rights Protection Centre.

9. LATAK has established the following Accreditation Branch Technical Committees: ◦ABTC for testing laboratories; ◦ABTC for calibration and verification; ◦ABTC for certification; ◦ABTC for inspection.

10. EA Multilateral Agreement (EA MLA) in the following fields:  accreditation of testing laboratories;  accreditation of calibration laboratories;  accreditation of product certification bodies;  accreditation of quality system certification bodies;  accreditation of personnel certification bodies;  accreditation of inspection bodies.

11.  Participation in the EA committees;  EC FALB;  EC/OECD GLP;  Cooperation with other Accreditation bodies.

12. The Ministry of Economics notify the European Commission regarding the authorised conformity assessment bodies, which act in accordance with the specified requirements of conformity assessment in the regulated sphere; The accreditation according to EN 45000 and 17000 standard series are provided by the National Accreditation institution; The same procedure for authorisation of comformity assessment bodies at the national level.