UKAS Technical Advisory Committees (TAC)

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’ technical 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 inter-laboratory comparisons
• The impact of international initiatives
• The need for the establishment of specialist task forces

The UKAS Technical, Quality & Risk Director 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.

In some cases, existing committees run by other groups may be identified as holding the necessary skills and expertise sought from a Technical Advisory Committee. With the agreement of the committee owner and committee members UKAS shall look to set up a formal arrangement for that external committee to provide UKAS with the advice normally provided by a UKAS Technical Advisory Committee.

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