7th ANF General Assembly
to Be Held in Jeju in October

Discusses detailed ways of mutual recognition in Asia

A body for mutual certification recognition among Asian countries has agreed to hold its next general assembly in Jeju Island, South Korea this October.
The members of Asia Network Forum (ANF) agreed on the venue of the Seventh ANF General Assembly during the Sixth ANF Meeting held in Kyoto, Japan last November 7-9. Twenty-five representatives of Asian certification bodies from five ANF member states -Korea, China, Taiwan, Singapore and Japan - participated in the session. Five Korean delegates, including Hong, Jong-hee, president of Korea Testing Laboratory (KTL) and currently ANF president, were also present.
The detailed progress of plans discussed and agreed during the sixth session is expected to be reported to the forthcoming General Assembly session, and more detailed plans on the ANF agendas, to be carried out by 2008, will be also taken up.
All ANF members are expecting ANF's efforts to transform certification systems in Asia from 2008.
The Seventh General Assembly is likely to deal with the details on the registration of ANF logo and mark registration issues, developed as part of ANF's efforts to promote mutual recognition in the policy area as well as the establishment of the related budgets.
A mutual recognition system will be put in place as ANF members have completed such areas in the technical fields for safety and Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) proficiencies.
Currently, KTL President-cum ANF President Hong and his ANF leadership are out together with member institutions to realize plans designed to reshape the certification profile in Asia by 2008. They refuse to go into details, citing an agreement to keep them confidential.
ANF members express the hope that certification systems in the Asian region will undergo dramatic changes through AFN from 2008.
ANF is a council for mutual certification recognition among Asian countries. Set up by five certification bodies from Korea (KTL), China (CQC), Japan (JQA), Taiwan (ETC) and Singapore (PSB) in 2000, it has been actively discussed ways to step up and facilitate the certification cooperation procedures and action plans among responsible agencies and enhance the efficiency of mutual recognition services in the region. Korea is the chairman country and takes the charge of the Committee 3, the Technical Committee. It has five committees - Policy, Promotion and Marketing, Technical, Inter-Continental relations Committees and Factory Inspections Committee, which was established in the fifth ANF general assembly in Singapore 2004.
KTL President Hong presided over the Sixth ANF General Assembly, which progressed smooth, thus contributing to boosting the profile of the KTL.
Participants of the session agreed to materialize ways of promoting collaboration over mutual recognition among ANF members and to establish an administration for making ANF a leader among certification agencies throughout the Asian region.
Each committee exchanged diverse views, discussed and decided detailed plans in five areas: how to materials mutual recognition in Asia, registration of ANF's logo, facilitation of mutual recognition practices among members, countermeasures designed to cope with restriction moves in Europe by such groups as WEEE and RoSH, and ANF's systemization of joint documents on factory inspections.
First of all, the Committee 1 (Policy Committee) agreed that members can use the ANF logo on their official documents, promotional materials, name cards, etc. The registration of the ANF logo was completed for the four members excepting for the CQC of China. The committee also agreed to register the logo in other Asian countries as a part of its efforts to expand the ANF in the future, and studies on logo registration processes in major economic blocks such as the North America and Europe.
The committee confirmed the qualification for member agencies and their assessment procedures, thereby setting up a foundation for the future expansion of the ANF.
The Committee 2 (Promotion and Marketing) discussed ways to make ANF as a brand and to publicize it globally.
Members will translate the ANF poster and brochures written in English into their own language and use. Also, the development plan for marketing product and the future strategies were profoundly debated on top of the reorganization of the documentation process of the ANF.
It is quite meaningful for Korea to take charge of the Committee 3, dealing with technical issues. Through this committee, the member agencies agreed on the sustained share of the Proficiency Test results. The detailed subjects required for the consistent test result among the member authorities, using the analysis on the EMC (Electromagnetic Compatibility) Round Robin Test result. As for the Certification System, the speculated Critical Component List and the details of related standards were shared. And in order to beef up the technical abilities and the capacities for mutual recognition on certification, it approved to make ANF's own code to be used when issuing testing reports exchanged among AFN members; it will be put in effect from the April 2006 though the concrete speculations of the ANF CODE would not be discussed.
C3 members proposed building a joint website by KTL for the convenient and efficient exchange of technical information. The next special session of the C3 will be held in Singapore.
Committee 4 (Inter-continental relations) aims at grasping global market trends and changes in the global standards and directives. In this session, each member reported on the TC108 and TC111 activities of IEC WG 10. It also discussed the measures to strengthen its influence on the formulation of international standards in the future.
In the Committee 5 (Factory inspections) session, member states consented to research and analyze the differences between inspection procedures and qualifications of member economies, and create a joint framework for the inspection and qualification. Through those efforts, it will uplift the brand value of the AFN and develop various marketing products. Furthermore, any differences in opinions on detailed qualification for factory inspection of each member will be tuned through ANF in order to synthesize all the items required for each member through unified procures.
KTL President, Hong, has repeatedly emphasized that without the global competitiveness, KTL has no choice but to be forced out of the global market and also saying KTL will improve its capacity to meet global standards. In this vein, Hong said in meetings with reporters KTL is planning to expand and reinforces partnerships with more foreign certification bodies, advancing into overseas certification markets, and establish a joint certification network in Asia.
"We will expand the number of the partners from the current 57 (in 33 countries) to 100 (in 50 countries). Then it will make easier for manufacturers in Korea to obtain foreign certificates for their exports."Hong said in a recent interview with the Korea Economic Daily. KTL already opened an office in Guangzhou, China in late 2004 and is planning to set up another local office in Shanghai in upcoming years. nw

Sixth general assembly of the Asia Network Forum convened in Kyoto, Japan

KTL President Hong Jong-hee, concurrently ANF president