The internal technical expertise held within UKAS is supplemented by a number of Technical Advisory Committees whose role is to provide advice on technical matters related to the development and operation of UKAS activities.

The committees are advisory and non-executive, and provide a forum for input from various bodies and individuals with an interest in UKAS activities, for example, professional bodies, accredited organisations, customers, and regulatory bodies. A Technical Advisory Committee normally comprises invited members capable of providing technical advice from the perspective of:

• UKAS assessors
• UKAS accredited bodies
• Customers of UKAS accredited bodies
• Independent specialists
• Governmental specialists
• Academia
• Government regulators
• Relevant professional institutes
• UKAS staff

UKAS may seek advice from these committees on a number of specific technical issues, including:

• The formulation and review of specific technical criteria to facilitate effective and consistent application of UKAS’ activities
• The acceptability of particular procedures as a basis for accreditation
• The identification of potential assessors and sources of assessors
• The need for and conduct of proficiency testing and interlaboratory comparisons
• The impact of European and other international initiatives
• The need for the establishment of specialist task forces

The UKAS Technical Director (Operations) appoints the Chairman of the Technical Advisory Committee and UKAS formulates the membership in conjunction with the Chairman. Service on a committee is by personal invitation of UKAS.

Committees only meet as required. The Chairmen of all the Technical Advisory Committees meet on an annual basis (normally in September) to review the main issues discussed in individual committees during the year, and to agree any changes to their future operation.

Details of the Technical Advisory Committees currently formed, together with contact details of the committee secretaries are given below. Further committees may be formed as required to meet new technical challenges.