Global Harmonisation and the ‘Golden Standard’Presented by Colin Bird – ICEC Secretaryas part of the 13th European Conference on Non-Destructive Testing (ECNDT)
held in Lisbon (Portugal) from 3rd to 7th of July 2023

Co-compiler: Harold Jansen ICEC Chair

International Harmonisation
Four pillars of international harmonisation relies on the following to besame / similar / equivalent:‘same competence regardless of where (in the world) training / qualification / certification wasconducted or maintained’▪

Core content

ISO/TS 25107:2019
Syllabus incorporates ANSI/ASNT CP 105 if ASME areincluded▪

Training

ISO/TS 25108:2018
Training Organisations & training processes▪

Qualification

ISO/IEC 17024:2012 under scope of ISO 9712:2021
Qualification bodies & examination processes‘what an individual must do to prove and sustain competence’▪

Certification

ISO/IEC 17024:2012 under scope of ISO 9712:2021
Certification bodies & certification processes‘what a third party must do to confirm & sustain competence’ICNDT Certification Executive Committee (ICEC)The ICEC is constituted under OP 18: ICNDT Certification ExecutiveCommittee; and focuses on both qualification and certification as per therelevant Operating procedures assigned under the ICEC responsibility:▪

OP 19: ICNDT Multilateral Recognition Agreement▪

OP 20: Personnel Certification Body Conformity Assessment▪

OP 23: Management of the ICNDT Examination Question Bank (EQB)(Refer to OP 13: Use of ICNDT Logo for refence to the use of relevant logos)

MRA Schedule 1 Membership
The organizations listed below have signed the ICNDT MultilateralAgreement on Recognition of NDT Personnel Certification and havethereby agreed to:▪

commit to the pursuance of the objectives of the MRA (i.e. harmonization);▪

promote the recognition and acceptance of the certification issued by PCBs
registered under the MRA (see Schedule 2);▪

assist other interested parties by giving a clear overview of the NDT
personnel certification activities in its own country;▪

provide other parties with non-confidential information on the certification
scheme(s) operated by PCB registered under this Agreement, and▪

consult with and seek membership of the scheme and technical committeesof NDT PCBs in its own country.

▪

indemnify ICNDT against liability for the party’s use or misuse of this MRA.

MRA Schedule 1 Membership (46 Organisations)
Country

ICNDT Member

Country

ICNDT Member

Argentina

AAENDE

Lebanon Suspended)

Australia

AINDTMalaysia

Industrial Research Institute,Lebanon (Awaiting Confirmation)
MSNT

AustriaÖGfZPMexico

IMENDE

Belgium

BANT

MoroccoCOMEND

BrazilABENDI

Netherlands

KINT

Bulgaria

BGSNDT

New Zealand

NZNDTCanadaCINDE

PolandChina, Peoples Republic of China

ChSNDT

Portugal

Polish Society for NDT and
Technical Diagnostics
Forum END

Chinese Taiwan

Romania

ARoENdColombia

The Society for Nondestructive
Testing and Certification of Taiwan
ACOSEND

RussiaCroatia

CrSNDTSerbia

Russian Society for NDT and
Technical Diagnostics
SDIBR

Czech RepublicCndt)

Singapore

NDTSS

Denmark

Danish Society of NDTSlovakia

SSNDTFinland

Finnish NDT SocietySouth Africa

SAINT

FranceCofrend

South Africa

SAIW

Germany

DGZfPSouth Korea

KSNT

Greece

HSNT

Spain

AEND

Hungary

MAROVISZ

Sri Lanka

NCNDT

India

ISNT

Switzerland

SGZP / SSNT)

Iran

IRNDT

TurkeyTURK NDT

IsraelISRANDT

Ukraine

USNDT

Italy

AIPnD

United Kingdom

BINDT

Japan

JSNDI

Uzbekistan

UzSNDT

Kazakhstan

Non-Destructive Testing andTechnical Diagnostic Association Kazakhstan

The organisations listed below have signed the ICNDT MultilateralAgreement on Recognition of NDT Personnel Certification and havethereby agreed to: • commit to the pursuance of the objectives of theMRA Schedule 2 Membership
NDT Personnel Certification Bodies (PCBs) have satisfied all of the eligibility
criteria for registration under the ICNDT Multilateral Recognition Agreement(MRA) for PCBs, including having undertaken to abide by the ICNDT Code ofPractice, and has been nominated and accepted for registration within the termsof the Agreement signed by those Members of the International Committee forNDT (ICNDT) listed in Schedule 1 to the Agreement.
These Personnel Certification Bodies may therefore announce that holders of
their certificates issued under these arrangements are certificated by a PCB
which is registered by the ICNDT as meeting the requirements of the applicableStandards (ISO/IEC 17024 under scope of ISO 9712) and Technical Documents
referenced in the schedule of conformity (scope) issued by the accreditor (OP19) and/or the ICNDT (OP 20).
All signatories to the Agreement, and all PCBs registered under the Agreement,
are bound to promote the recognition and acceptance of the certificates issued
by all other ICNDT Registered NDT Personnel Certification Bodies.

MRA Schedule 2 Membership (21 Organisations)NDT PCB
Argentinian Institute for Standards andCertification - IRAM
Associação Brasileira de Ensaios Não
Destrutivos e Inspeção (ABENDI)
Australian Institute for Non-destructive Testing(AINDT)
Chinese Society for Non-Destructive Testing(ChSNDT)
Department of Skills Development, Ministry of
Human Resources, Malaysia
Inspecta Sertifiointi Oy (Finland)
Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
KPCN-KSNT
National Certification Board of Indian Society
for Non-Destructive Testing NCB - ISNDTPCN – British Institute of NDT (UK)RELACRE - Associação de Laboratórios
Acreditados de Portugal
RTC "Testing and diagnostics"(Moscow, Russian Federation)

SAIW Certification (South Africa)
SECTOR Cert - Gesellschaft für Zertifizierung
GmbH, (Germany)
The society for Non Destructive Testing andCertification of Taiwan
TÜV NORD Czech, s.r.o.
TWI Certification Ltd (UK)The Ukrainian Scientific Research Institute for NDT(UkrSRINDT)National Certification Body for Non-Destructive Urząd Dozoru Technicznego
Testing, Sri Lanka
Jednostka Certyfikująca Osoby UDT-CERT (Poland)
Non-Destructive Testing Society (Singapore) NDTSS
Mexican Institute for NDT (IMENDE), Mexico

MRA Schedule 2 - Current Requirements▪

Proposed for registration under Schedule 2 by a Party to this MRA
that is a signatory to Schedule 1 (different entities); •▪

Accept the ICNDT Code of Practice for Personnel Certification
Bodies.

▪

Identify Authorized

Qualification

Bodiesusedandsectorial

arrangements with a published code of ethics▪

Shall be independently accredited▪

Evidence that the accreditation meets ICNDT requirements▪

Payment of relevant fee▪

Annual surveillance and re-registration as per 3-year registration
cycle.

MRA Schedule 2 – Motivation
Since both ISO/IEC 17024 as well as ISO 9712 stipulates minimum
requirements to be met by qualification processes and certification

bodies; a ‘golden standard’ has been proposed which potentiallyclarifies areas open to interpretation, in order to improve harmonizationand to address matters relating to:▪

Impartiality;▪

Conflicting interest / perception ;▪

Traceability and▪

Technical aspects

specifically related to qualification and certification of NDT personnel as
per the referenced standards in the initial slide.

MRA Schedule 2 – ‘Golden’ Standard
Impartiality▪

Separate legal entities between training organizations and certificationbodies▪

Separate board responsibilities▪

Impartiality committee terms of reference extended to include training anddecision making;

Perceived conflict of interest▪

Shared public platforms▪

Constitution of Scheme committees

Traceability▪

Accreditation bodies signatories to IAF MLA Scope 2 Certification ofPersons as per ISO/IEC 17024 (scope 3)

MRA Schedule 2 – ‘Golden’ Standard
Technical aspects▪

NDT Lev 3 Technical Expert to be part of audit team – auditors do notnecessarily have NDT expertise in relation to technical content, practicalcompetence or resources utilized as part of NDT activities.
▪

Confirmation from NDT Lev 3’s forming part of Scheme Committee /Qualification body (Exam panels) that technical content as per method forwhich they are certified; complies with technical content stipulated in ISO/TS
25017 (incorporating ANSI/ASNT CP 105 if ASME is applicable) andrelevant sector standards.

▪

Classification of anticipated training objectives and outcomes into levels ofcomplexity and specificity as per Bloom’s Taxonomy▪

Defined / guided sector specific industrial experience requirements▪

Training organizations formally recognized as per ISO/TS 25108

ICEC Examination Question Bank (EQB)
The qualification process, which relies mostly on the examination of personnel;
requires standardization of questions to allow for global harmonization in relation
to theoretical and sector specific knowledge.
The delivery model of the existing EQB is in the process of being digitizedallowing MRA Scheduled 2 registered PCB’s (focusing currently on small to
medium PCB’s) to utilize this on-line platform for General and Specificexaminations in the six basic NDT methods at all three qualification levels.
The digital platform allows for the EQB to be updated and aligned to the latest
version of ISO/TS 25107 as well as related ISO standards with the potential of

expanding into regional EN and national standards.
While the delivery language is English (Spanish to be added separately)accommodating various major international languages are very much in theconcept phase but are being considered via add-on applications.

ICEC Examination Question Bank (EQB)
You are encouraged to take part in the ‘sand box’ trial of the EQB byaccessing the following link and to provide comments to the ICEC in

relation to your experience:______________________________________________________(Please note that questions included in the sandbox have been created tofacilitate the initial phase and does not form part of the actual databasequestions)