Prepared By: PAC Chair and PAC Secretarydate: 18 October 2016

STRATEGIC PLAN

2017- 2019

Issue 3.0

Prepared by: PAC Chair and PAC SecretaryDate: 18 October 2016

Endorsed by: PAC Executive CommitteeDate: 17 February 2017

Approved by: PAC ChairDate: 17 May 2017

Issue Date: 18 May 2017Application Date: Immediate

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

PAC’S VISION

PAC’S MISSION

THE PAC STRATEGIC PLAN

PAC’s GOALS AND STRATEGIES

GOAL 1: ENHANCE PAC’S CAPABILITY AS ALEARNING ORGANIZATION

GOAL 2: ENHANCE PAC’S TECHNICAL CAPABILITY

GOAL 3: STRENGTHEN PAC’S IDENTITY

GOAL 4: INCREASE THE ACCEPTANCE OF PAC AMONG STAKEHOLDERS

ANNEX 1 PAC’S STRATEGIC PARTNERS IN ACCREDITATION

International peak bodies

Local regional peak bodies......

Other regional peak bodies

ANNEX 2 PAC’S REGIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL STAKEHOLDER HOLDERS AND PARTNERS

Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)

Specialist Regional Bodies (SRBs)

Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN)

Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB)

United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO)

International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC)

World Trade Organization - Agreement on Technical Barriers To Trade (WTO/TBT)

World Trade Organization - Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures Agreement (WTO/SPS)

ANNEX 3 PAC GOALS, STRATEGIES, ACTIVITIES AND COMMITTEES RESPONSIBLE FOR EACH ACTIVITY

INTRODUCTION

The Pacific Accreditation Cooperation (PAC) is an association of accreditation bodies and other interested parties whose primary purpose is to facilitate trade and commerce among economies in the Asia and Pacific region.

PAC provides the forum for regional standardisation of practices for the accreditation of certification bodies to provide independent (3rd party) certification of management systems, products, processes, services or persons.

PAC promotes the international acceptance of accreditations granted by its accreditation body members, based on the equivalence of their accreditation programmes.

PAC provides an essential framework for industry and government to enhance confidence in the trade of goods and services.

PAC is recognised by our Strategic Partners in Accreditation (see Annex 1) for the operation of Multi-Lateral Recognition Arrangements (MLAs) for the accreditation of:

• greenhouse gas validation and verification bodies;
• management systems certification bodies in the following management system areas:

-Energy Management Systems (EnMS);

-Environmental Management Systems (EMS);

-Food Safety Management Systems (FSMS);

-Information Security Management Systems (ISMS);

-Quality Management Systems (QMS);

• person certification bodies; and
• product certification bodies.

PAC’S VISION

To be the regional partner of choice in pursuit ofenvironmentally responsible production of quality goods or services in support of domestic and international trade.

PAC’S MISSION

To represent the interests of the Asia and Pacific economies in the PAC fields of operation in support of APEC, IAF and WTO/TBT aims and objectives.

To operate the PAC Multi-Lateral Recognition Arrangements (MLAs) in the PAC fields of operation, to minimise technical barriers to trade.

To assist its members to develop their accreditation capability to support their domestic and international trade activities in the PAC fields of operation.

THE PAC STRATEGIC PLAN

The PAC Strategic Plan is developed by the PAC Executive Committee to establish a clear sense of direction for the realisation of PAC’s mission.

Building on our history of accomplishments, this Strategic Plan responds to the emerging needs and opportunities with our regional and international stakeholders and partners (Annex 2). It also seeks to extract value from our significant opportunities and the lessons we have learned.

Annex 3 of this Strategic Plan identifies PAC’sneeds and opportunities and establishes corresponding short term goals,strategies and the priority activities for each of the standing committees to implement each strategy.

PAC’s GOALS AND STRATEGIES

PAC members represent a diverse range of cultures and capabilities. It is this diversity that enables us to understand and assist all of our members to develop the capability and capacity required to support domestic economic activity.

Our capability building ranges from developing programs to support accreditation of bodies certifying good agricultural practices to the accreditation of greenhouse gas validation and verification bodies.

The four primary goals and associated strategies are:

GOAL 1: ENHANCE PAC’S CAPABILITY AS ALEARNING ORGANIZATION

This will enable PAC members to better understand our collective and individual member needs as the basis for identifying the need for broad based projects or to facilitate individual mentoring.

Strategies:

1.1.Enhance governance of PAC

1.2.Increase participation

GOAL 2: ENHANCE PAC’S TECHNICAL CAPABILITY

This goal will enhance our capacity to respond across the entire membership in support of emerging technologies while still responding to the developmental needs of individual members.

Strategies:

2.1.Develop and implementation competence based on trainings

2.2.Expand PAC peer evaluator capacities and activities

2.3.Seek funding support from outside for capacity building

GOAL 3: STRENGTHEN PAC’S IDENTITY

This goal seeks to enhance our sense of purpose while strengthening our brand.

Strategies

3.1.Strengthen PAC’s position at IAF

3.2.Strengthen our cooperative arrangements with strategic partners

3.3.Enhance PAC’s profile at APEC

3.4.Expand PAC’s profile to reflect our Asia Pacific centricity

3.5.Develop and enhance communication tools

GOAL 4: INCREASE THE ACCEPTANCE OF PAC AMONG STAKEHOLDERS

The PAC MLAs provide a robust framework for the efficient operation of third party conformity assessment activities that could be better used to support trade arrangements.

Strategies:

4.1.Investigating opportunities for new MLA programs within PAC

4.2.Increasing membership and the number of signatories to the MLAs

4.3.Increase visibility of PAC among trade blocs in the region

4.4Increase visibility of PAC MLA among regulators

All PAC Committees are to review the PAC strategies and identify their proposed activities to support these strategies.

Committee Chairs will report to the Executive Committee and members on their progress against their work-plans.

Further details of the above goals, strategies and relevant committees are provided in Annex 3.

ANNEX 1 PAC’S STRATEGIC PARTNERS IN ACCREDITATION

International peak bodies

• The International Accreditation Forum (IAF)
• The International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC)

Local regional peak bodies

• Asia Pacific Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (APLAC)

• Inter-American Accreditation Cooperation (IAAC)

Other regional peak bodies

• European Co-operation for Accreditation (EA)
• Arab Accreditation Cooperation (ARAC)
• African Accreditation Cooperation (AFRAC)
• South African Development Community in Accreditation

ANNEX 2 PAC’S REGIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL STAKEHOLDER HOLDERS AND PARTNERS

Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)

APEC supports sustainable economic growth and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region. APEC provides funding to support its objectives which are of direct benefit to the vast majority of PAC’s members coming from APEC member economies. For this reason PAC has ensured that its goals and strategies support the APEC agenda.

Specialist Regional Bodies (SRBs)

PAC’s affiliation with APEC is through the Sub Committee on Standards and Conformance (APEC SCSC). PAC is one of five Specialist Regional Bodies (SRBs) recognised by the APEC. The five SRBs provide the regional forums for developing consistent approaches to metrology, standards development and conformity assessment to assist the free flow of trade.

The other four SRBs are:

• The Asia Pacific Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (APLAC)

APLAC is a sister organisation to PAC, which operates Mutual Recognition Arrangements (MRAs) for:

­Testing and Calibration Laboratories;

­Inspection Bodies;

­Medical Laboratories;

­Reference Material Producers; and

­Proficiency Testing Providers

• The Asia Pacific Legal Metrology Forum(APLMF)

APLMF is a grouping of legal metrology authorities in the APEC and other economies on the Pacific Rim, whose objective is the development of legal metrology and the promotion of free and open trade in the region through the harmonisation and removal of technical or administrative barriers to trade in the field of legal metrology.

• The Asia Pacific Metrology Programme (APMP)

APMP is a grouping of national metrology institutes from the Asia-Pacific region engaged in improving regional metrological through the sharing of expertise and exchange of technical services among member laboratories. APMP is also a regional metrology organization recognized by the International Committee for Weights and Measures (CIPM) for the purpose of worldwide mutual recognition of measurement standards and of calibration and measurement certificates.

• Pacific Area Standards Congress (PASC)

PASC is a forum of standardization organizations from the Pacific area, which meets to discuss international standardization issues. The members of PASC have adopted by consensus a number of important resolutions concerning international standardization, the work of ISO and IEC and communication and inter-relationships among PASC members. PASC is concerned not only with Standards Preparation, but also with conformance to standards.

Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN)

ASEAN aims include acceleratingeconomic growth,social progress and cultural development among its members. PAC uses the Capacity Building Committee to identify areas of common interest in support of ASEAN members of PAC.

Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB)

PTB is the national metrology institute providing scientific and technical services in Germany. PTB also provides funding to PAC in support of capacity building in developing economies. PAC aligns the support from APEC and PTB to the greatest extent possible to ensure that members from the relevant APEC neighbourhood economies are not left behind in our regional development activities.

United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO)

UNIDO was established to promote and accelerate sustainable industrial development in developing countries and economies in transition. This requires identifying sectors and products that have competitive potential and are suitable for local value addition as well as analysing and assessing trends in industrial performance at national, regional and global levels, and formulating strategies and policies designed to improve industrial competitiveness and to overcome technical barriers to trade (TBT) and comply with sanitary and phyto-sanitary measures (SPS).

International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC)

ISO and IEC are non-governmental organisations that form a specialised system for worldwide standardisation. National bodies that are members of ISO or IEC participate in the development of International Standards through technical committees established by the respective organisation to deal with particular fields of technical activity. ISO and IEC technical committees collaborate in fields of mutual interest. Such a standard should:

• Effectively respond to regulatory and market needs (in the global marketplace);
• Respond to scientific and technical developments in various countries;
• Not distort the market;
• Have no adverse effects on fair competition;
• Not stifle innovation and technological development;
• Not give preference to characteristics or requirements of specific countries or regions when different needs or interests exist in other countries or regions;
• Be performance based as opposed to design prescriptive.

World Trade Organization - Agreement on Technical Barriers To Trade (WTO/TBT)

The World Trade Organization (WTO) provides the legal foundation for the multilateral trading system. It provides contractual obligations determining how governments frame and implement domestic trade legislation and regulations for their trade in goods and services.

The WTO Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade obliges members to ensure that technical regulations, voluntary standards and conformity assessment procedures do not create unnecessary obstacles to trade. Annex 3 of the TBT Agreement is the Code of Good Practice for the Preparation, Adoption and Application of Standards.

WTO members agree to ensure that their central government standardising bodies accept and comply with the Code of Good Practice and agree to take all reasonable measures to ensure that local government, nongovernment and regional standardising bodies do the same.

The WTO also administers an agreement concerning the trade related aspects of intellectual property rights.

World Trade Organization - Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures Agreement (WTO/SPS)

The Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures Agreement allows countries to set their own standards, but it also says regulations must be based on science and that they should be applied only to the extent necessary to protect human, animal or plant life or health. Regulations should not arbitrarily or unjustifiably discriminate between countries where identical or similar conditions prevail.

PAC-EXEC-014 (Issue 3.0).docDate of Issue: 18 May 2017Date of Application: Immediate

ANNEX 3PAC GOALS, STRATEGIES, ACTIVITIES AND COMMITTEES RESPONSIBLE FOR EACH ACTIVITY

GOAL 1: ENHANCE PAC’S CAPABILITY AS A LEARNING ORGANISATION

1. Review the current PAC structure and Terms of Reference for standing committees in terms of becoming a learning organization
2. Enhance the quality and efficiency of the PAC management system.

1. Increase utilization of virtual meetings for small groups
2. Establish special sessions for groups / members to talk about their issues and needs for assistance from PAC
3. Provide for small group discussions / activities (4-5 people)
4. Mentoring developing accreditation bodies in order to harmonise and build consistency in accreditation activities

1. Set up a focal point of each important topic for members
2. Record any key outcomes from group discussions that may be of benefit to other members.

GOAL 2: ENHANCE PAC’S TECHNICAL CAPABILITY

GOAL 3: STRENGTHEN PAC’S IDENTITY

1. Developing common documents and joint activities

1. Provide member capacity building that supports APEC BOGOR Goals
2. Provide member capacity building that supports emerging technologies and trade

1. Develop tools for Internal communication
2. Enhance virtual meeting capability

1. Consider utilizing a wider set of media tools, e.g. website and LinkedIn

GOAL 4: INCREASE THE ACCEPTANCE OF PAC AMONG STAKEHOLDERS