ICNDT WG1 Qualification and Certification

Multilateral Recognition Agreement (MRA)

Objectives

The objectives of the ICNDT MRA are to harmonise the operations of participating Personnel Certification Bodies (PCB), and achieve widespread recognition of NDT personnel certification issued by PCB registered under the ICNDT MRA. The implementation and operation of the ICNDT MRA is the responsibility of the ICNDT Certification Executive Committee (ICEC).

Obligations

The signatories to the ICNDT MRA are the full and associate members of the ICNDT that choose to support the agreement, which is indicated by signing Schedule 1 of the MRA. It should be noted that signatories are not, of necessity, owners or operators of NDT personnel certification schemes. Each Party that is signatory to the ICNDT MRA undertakes to:

• pursue the objectives of the ICNDT MRA;
• promote the recognition and acceptance of the certification issued by PCB registered under the ICNDT MRA;
• assist other interested parties by giving a clear overview of the NDT personnel certification activities in their own country;
• advise interested parties on how the quality of NDT depends on the correct use of personal certification by the employer as explained in the ICNDT Guide to personal certification for NDT and in EN ISO 9712;
• provide other parties with non-confidential information on the certification scheme(s) operated by PCB registered under the ICNDT MRA; and
• consult with and seek membership of the scheme committees and technical committees of NDT PCB in their own country.

Registration

To gain registration under the ICNDT MRA, Personnel Certification Bodies (PCB) shall be:

• proposed for registration by a signatory to the ICNDT MRA, and
• in compliance with ISO 9712, and
• accredited by a body recognised by the ICNDT, or
• assessed by the ICNDT to demonstrate conformity with EN ISO 9712.

Recognition of certification issued by registered PCB

Those ICNDT members that have signed the MRA have thereby agreed to recognise and promote acceptance in their own country of all certificates issued by PCBs registered by ICNDT in accordance with the Agreement. Signatories are listed in a document,
Schedule 1.

Registration of PCB

The PCBs which have been accepted for registration by the ICNDT under the MRA, and are thus recognised by all of the signatories to the Agreement, are listed in
Schedule 2.

Conformity Assessment (PCB CA)

For details see OP20.

Background

Representatives of the members of the International Committee for Non-Destructive Testing (ICNDT) have recognised the need for a peer review system for Conformity Assessment of NDT Personnel Certification Bodies (PCB) as a complement or alternative to accreditation.
The work of developing the system, based upon the principles enshrined in ISO/IEC 17040 (Conformity assessment – General requirements for peer assessment of conformity assessment bodies), was entrusted to ICNDT WG1 for Qualification, Certification and Accreditation.

Objective

The ICNDT conformity assessment system is intended to facilitate participation in the ICNDT MRA by those Personnel Certification Bodies (PCB) that are unable to utilise national accreditation or, for other reasons, prefer to undergo conformity assessment by ICNDT.

Certification of Conformity

To demonstrate conformance under the ICNDT system, the applicant PCB shall:

• make formal application to ICNDT for assessment against specified criteria, e.g., ISO/IEC 17024 and EN ISO 9712,
• sign an undertaking to comply with the ICNDT Code of Practice (CoP) for NDT PCB,
• undergo assessment by an ICNDT appointed team of appropriately qualified assessors to demonstrate compliance with the applicable criteria.

An ICNDT certificate of conformity, which is awarded following a final review of applications and assessment reports by the ICNDT Certification Executive Committee (ICEC), is valid for a period of two or three years from the date of issue, and is renewed following a successful re-assessment.

How is conformity announced?

The PCBs which have been assessed by the ICNDT and found to conform to the assessment criteria will be issued a certificate of conformity.

Examination Question Bank (EQB)

Background

In the 1990s, recognising the need to harmonise European PCB operations, the British, French and German NDT societies embarked upon the development of a European Federation for NDT initiative called the European Certification Programme (ECP). In the event, it was decided not to proceed with the implementation of this programme, but one of the spin-off’s was a bank of over 6000 multi-choice examination questions donated by the three NDT societies, who agreed to make this available for a one-off purchase fee of €7500 to eligible PCBs (eligibility centred on participation in the EFNDT MRA). Subsequently, the EFNDT agreed to make this resource available to the ICNDT as a basis for the development of a globally available examination question bank.

EQB content

This EQB presently contains over 6000 questions (see detail in Table 1) in the English language and, under an IAEA funded project, translated into Spanish.