ICNDT Certification Executive Committee (ICEC) Members

The ICNDT Certification Executive Committee (ICEC) is constituted by ICNDT Operating Procedure (OP) number 18, which was approved during the April 2012 (18th) World Conference on NDT in Durban, South Africa. OP18 states that the Committee is empowered to set up Working Groups and Committees to execute specific tasks, and it is required to report on the work of such groups to the ICNDT Policy and General Purposes Committee, and to the ICNDT General Assembly.

The ICEC has seven members including a Chair, one representative of a Signatory to the MRA from each of the four ICNDT Regions, the ICNDT Treasurer and the Chairman of WG1.

The Members are appointed by the General Assembly (GA) for a term of office lasting two years until the subsequent GA (with the potential for renewal thereafter).

The present ICEC members are:

  • Mr. Harold Jansen (Chair)
  • Mr. Joao Rufino Teles (Vice Chair)
  • Dr. Thomas Wenzel (European Federation representative)
  • Dr. Norikazu Ooka (Asia Pacific representative)
  • Mr. Bento Alves (WG1 representative)
  • Mr. Glen Tubrett (Americas representative)
  • Dr. Kamal Sahaimi (African federation representative)
  • Mr. Gerhard Aufricht (Treasurer)
  • Mr. Colin Bird (Secretariat)

Other than where CEC membership is automatic (the Treasurer and WG 1 Chair), the Members and Chairman of the CEC are proposed by the ICNDT Executive Committee (IEC), taking into account the views of the Policy & General Purposes Committee (PGPC).

Method of working

The CEC is responsible to the IEC for planning its work, taking into account the ICNDT Strategic Plan and the system requirements of the MRA and PCBA. The Committee ordinarily works by consensus, holding physical meetings in association with each GA and/or telephone/internet conferences as appropriate. Voting is by simple majority with a quorum of 50% of the membership. In the case of a tied vote the Chairman has a casting vote.

The ICEC Chairman is responsible for publicising the activities of the CEC on the ICNDT website and in the ICNDT Journal, reporting on the work of the ICEC to ICNDT Working Group 1, and providing a progress report and forward work plan to each PGPC meeting.

The Committee drafts for approval by the IEC an annual income and expenditure budget covering the management and administration of the MRA and PCBA, and the Chairman (or a nominated member of the ICEC) is responsible for reporting the activities of the CEC to the IEC, attending meetings when appropriate by arrangement.

Because of the confidential nature of some of the work of the ICEC, attendance at ICEC meetings is limited to the officially appointed Members, and the day to day work of the ICEC is carried out by the CEC Secretary (icec-secretary@icndt.org).

Responsibilities

The principle responsibilities of the ICEC include the management of activities relating to NDT personnel certification, including the ICNDT Multilateral Recognition Agreement (MRA) (OP19), the ICNDT Personnel Certification Body Conformity Assessment (PCB CA) systems and an ICNDT Bank of Multi-Choice Examination Questions.

Please refer to OP18 section I for further information.

Services

ICNDT has developed three services to support harmonisation and recognition of Qualification and Certification of Personnel.

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 (Signature Form) 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 of ICNDT OP19 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 ICNDT OP19 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.