Certification Executive Committee
Annual Report of the ICNDT Certification Executive Committee
Certification Executive Committee Constitution

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 inDurban, South Africa. OP18 states that the Committee is empowered to set up Working Groups andCommittees to execute specific tasks, and it is required to report on the work of such groups to theICNDT Policy and General Purposes Committee, and to the ICNDT General Assembly.
The ICEC has seven members including a Chairman, 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:
••••
•
•
•

Patrick Fallouey (ICEC Chairman)
Alexander Mullin (WG1 Chairman)
David Barnett (Asia-Pacific region)
Gerhard Aufricht (ICNDT Treasurer)
Jim Guild (Africa region)João Rufino Teles Filho (Pan-America region)
Matthias Purschke (Europe region)

Other than where CEC membership is automatic (the Treasurer and WG1 Chairman), the Membersand Chairman of the CEC are proposed by the ICNDT Executive Committee (IEC), taking into accountthe views of the Policy & General Purposes Committee (PGPC).

ICEC 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 asappropriate. Voting is by simple majority with a quorum of 50% of the membership. In the case of atied 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 aprogress 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 nominatedmember 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 islimited to the officially appointed Members, and the day to day work of the ICEC is carried out by theCEC Secretary (icec-secretary@icndt.org).

ICEC Responsibilities

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

Multilateral Recognition Agreement (MRA) – OP19
Background
The work of developing the ICNDT Multilateral Recognition Agreement (MRA), which is based uponcompliance with EN ISO 9712, was entrusted to the ICNDT WG on Qualification, Certification andAccreditation (WG1).
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 isthe 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 tosupport the agreement, which is indicated by signing Schedule 1 of the MRA. It should be noted thatsignatories 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 underthe 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 personalcertification 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, andconsult with and seek membership of the scheme committees and technical committees ofNDT PCB in their own countryRegistration
To gain registration under the ICNDT MRA, Personnel Certification Bodies (PCB) shall be:••••

proposed for registration by a signatory to the ICNDT MRA, andin compliance with ISO 9712, andaccredited by a body recognised by the ICNDT, orassessed by the ICNDT to demonstrate conformity with EN ISO 9712.

2012-11-19_ICEC Report.docx

Page 2 of 6Final: 2012-12-10

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 PCB registered by ICNDT in accordancewith the Agreement. Signatories will be listed in a document, Schedule 1, published atwww.icndt.org
Registration of PCB
The PCB 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, which will be
published at www.icndt.orgPersonnel Certification Body Conformity Assessment (PCB CA) – 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.
ObjectiveThe 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, forother 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 todemonstrate compliance with the applicable criteria.

An ICNDT certificate of conformity, which is awarded following a final review of applications andassessment 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 PCB which have been assessed by the ICNDT and found to conform to the assessment criteria
will be issued a certificate of conformity, and their scope of conformity will be published atwww.icndt.org.

2012-11-19_ICEC Report.docx

Page 3 of 6

Final: 2012-12-10

Examination question bank (EQB)
BackgroundIn the 1990’s, recognising the need to harmonise European PCB operations, the British, French andGerman 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 proceed with
the implementation of this programme, but one of the spin-off’s was a bank of over 6,000 multichoice examination questions donated by the three NDT societies, who agreed to make thisavailable for a one-off purchase fee of €7,500 to eligible PCBs (eligibility centred on participation inthe EFNDT MRA). Subsequently, the EFNDT agreed to make this resource available to the ICNDT as abasis for the development of a globally available examination question bank.
EQB content
This EQB presently contains over 6,000 questions (see detail in Table 1) in the English language and,
under an IAEA funded project, these are presently undergoing translation into the Spanish language.
Table 1 – catalogue of questions
METHODRadiation safety
ET
ET
ET
ET
ET
ET
MT
MT
Product tech
PT
PT
RT
RT
RT
RT
RT
TOFD
UT
UT
UT
UT
UT
UT
VT
VT

SECTOR
General
Aerospace
General
ISI
Tubes
Welds
Wrought products
GeneralISIMulti-sector
GeneralISI
Aerospace
Castings
General
ISI
Welds
Welds
Aerospace
Castings
General
ISI
Welds
Wrought products
GeneralISITOTALS

L1
95
0149
8024
1194
151
0161
80
038
256
22
14
40
050
408
1347
10189
118
1978

L2
138
32
272
27
73
36
58
90
245
133
160
238
140
41541
43
130
60
3338553
11173
62
184
563567

L30100167000084206
2159370141421
115640331192
035086101862

TOTAL
233
132588357360
69268
602
348
414
388
141120
1218
76200
140
36
121115324255
72459
1847409

The ICEC, which was given the responsibility for management and development of the EQB, waspresented, at a July 2012 teleconference, with a number of options. The ICEC considered the options
and agreed to:a) upgrade the existing database management application,b) import the English and Spanish questions, and2012-11-19_ICEC Report.docx

Page 4 of 6Final: 2012-12-10c) sell the revised question database management application and existing question resource
for a once only fee (the level of which is to be agreed).
The ICEC also agreed that it should consider whether to update and extend the existing examinationquestion resource, selling the revised question database management application and questions
with a periodic updating/extending service for an initial fee plus update fee to cover initial and ongoing moderate effort and investment. A Business plan is being developed to cover this exigency.
Conditions of sale and purchase
The ICEC will develop the necessary controls for management and distribution of this resource, andwill consider the following in order to reach its conclusions:
1. Legal conditions (who owns the bank and markets it)a. ICNDT should retain sole rights to distribution of the Question Bank, with protective
measures to include penalties for misuse.
b. A legal contract could cover commitment to pay for maintenance and updating, as
well as conditions for security, confidentiality, and return of the QB upon cessationof the contract (the ICNDT Executive Committee (IEC) would be responsible fordecisions concerning legal and contractual issues).
c. Confidentiality and Security (requirements from ISO/IEC 17024)
7.4.2 Security policies and procedures shall include provisions to ensure
the security of examination materials taking into account:i)the locations of the materials (e.g. transportation, electronic delivery,disposal, storage, examination centre);ii) the nature of the materials (e.g. electronic, paper, test equipment);iii) the steps in the examination process (e.g. development, administration,results reporting);iv) threats arising from repeated use of examination materials.
2. Conditions of Delivery.
a. Users shall agree to implement effective measures to protect the confidentiality andsecurity of the QB, and shall not distribute it onwards.
b. Recipient ICNDT Members shall participate in the ICNDT Multilateral Recognition
Agreement.
c. Recipient PCB shall seek and gain registration under the ICNDT MRA
3. Fees, Invoices, Payments Distribution and Maintenancea. A budget and financial plan shall be produced by the Certification Executive
Committee (CEC) when the ICNDT has determined the cost of maintenance and thenumber of potential users.
b. Fees and charges are recommended by the ICEC and approved by the IEC, and are
low enough to encourage use of the EQB, yet high enough to reflect the value and toprovide for maintenance of this resource.
i. A one-off fee for purchase of the ICNDT EQB in 2013:
ii. Ann annual subscription fee*

$7,500.00€750.00*covers updating and extending of the EQB and its operating software

2012-11-19_ICEC Report.docx

Page 5 of 6Final: 2012-12-10

Survey of ICNDT members
Summary of the responses to the July 2012 member survey on participation in the ICNDTMRA, PCB CA and EQBResponseQuestion
1.

Does the PCB intend to seek registration under theMRA and, if yes, when?

19 out of 21 PCB responding intend to seekregistration under the ICNDT MRA

2.

If yes, is it accredited and what is the scope ofaccreditation?

14 out of 21 PCB responding are accredited3.

If not accredited, does it intend seeking
accreditation to comply with the requirements forregistration?

6 out of 21 PCB responding will seek
accreditation in order to participate in the MRA

4.

If not, does it intend seeking ICNDT assessment tocomply with the requirements for registration and,
if yes, when?

7 out of 21 PCB responding indicated that theywould apply for ICNDT assessment for
conformity with the applicable standards

5.

Would the PCB make use of an ICNDT examinationquestion bank (IEQB)?

15 out of 21 PCB responding indicated that theywould make use of the ICNDT EQB

6.

If yes to the use of an IEQB, in which language(s)are your examinations conducted – English,Spanish or other?

11 out of 21 PCB responding give examinationsin the English language

7.

Would your PCB be willing to contribute financially,and/or by the provision of additional questions, tothe maintenance and on-going development of an
IEQB?

13 out of 21 PCB responding indicated that theywould contribute to the ICNDT EQB in one formor anotherConclusion
It seems clear from the above that support for these initiatives amongst the ICNDT membership ishigh, and the ICEC looks forward to implementing the MRA, PCB CA and EQB services at an early
opportunity.
John Thompson

Secretary, for the ICEC

2012-11-19_ICEC Report.docx

Page 6 of 6Final: 2012-12-10