Auditor and Training Certification Association Takes New Direction

The International Auditor and Training Certification Association recently changed its name to reflect new priorities. The organization is now called the International Personnel Certification Association, a name that reflects a new focus on personnel certification, according to company officials. The IPC has been incorporated as a nonprofit entity in Greece. The Greek government will provide it with a funded secretariat.

“These initiatives include a name change to more accurately reflect our interest in promoting personnel certification criteria beyond our traditional market of management systems, as well as the relocation and alignment of our secretarial functions to provide more cost-effective services to members,” says George Anastasopoulos, IPC chairman. “These criteria provide guidance and increased flexibility for our certification members to assess competence of their auditor members in a more relevant, cost-effective manner.”

The name change was timed to correspond with the release of ISO/IEC 17024, Anastasopoulos says. IPC will seek membership in the International Accreditation Forum and is considering establishing criteria beyond its traditional membership base of management systems professionals.

“There are many opportunities for IPC to grow its personnel certification activity, to meet industry’s needs for consistency and professionalism,” Anastasopoulos says.

IPC’s promotes business performance by determining industry’s requirements through consultation, establishing agreed international criteria for auditor certification and auditor training programs, and by ensuring equivalence of auditing outcome to training and certification.

For more information, visit www.iatca.com.

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