Conformity Assessment Section (CAS) Executive Committee Teleconference Call

February 22, 2012 Meeting Minutes

Participants : Mike Violette – (Washington Labs); Harry Hodes – Vice Chair; Don Heirman (DH Consulting); Adam Gouker (A2LA); Ray Klouda (Elite Electronics); Steve Koster (Washington Labs); Doug Leonard (L-A- B); Barry Quinlan (TUV SUD); Jason Stein (L-A-B); Dave Tolman (Northwest EMC); Wally Vahlstrom (ETI Conformity Services); Milt Bush (ACIL CEO); & Tony Anderson (ACIL SEO).

1. Call to order:

The Chair called the meeting to order at 11:02 a.m. EST

2. Introductions:

Mr. Anderson read the roll call of members and guests present

3. Anti Trust Statement:

The members acknowledged they had read and understood their obligations under the statement.

4. Approval of Minutes:

4.1 Review and Approval of Minutes of teleconference meeting held on 01-04-12: All

Due to lack of a quorum, tabled until the next meeting

4.2 Review and Approval of Notes of teleconference meeting held on 01-25-12: All

Motion to accept: Mr. Hodes Seconded by: Mr. Leonard Approved unanimously

4.3 Review and Approval of Minutes of meeting held in New Orleans on 10-12-11: Violette

Motion to accept: Mr. Klouda Seconded by: Mr. Koster Approved unanimously

Action: Mr. Anderson to prepare an action item register. Already actioned see attached.

1 CAS ExCo Meeting Minutes 022212□ 5. Update on Policies and Practices meeting:

Mr. Violette went over the program (see attached) for the CAS meeting at the Polices & Practices meeting on the afternoon of March 28, 2012 at the Crystal Gateway Marriott in Crystal City, VA.

Mr. Bush briefed the section on the recent ACIL Government Relations Committee meeting where Jeff Weiss presented. The GRC minutes follow:

Minutes-GRC-Januar y2012-Final.docx

6. Strategic Plan: Review of Goals:

6.1 Strengthen the relationship between members, prospective members, related trade associations, regulators, and laboratory customers through ACIL programs, meetings and other member services, including advocacy initiatives - CAS Anchor Programs Violette

6.2 To enhance relationships with all stakeholders through relevant and timely communication. Development of plan Violette

6.3 Create a dynamic information portal to be launched by March 2012 (in time for the Policies & Practices meeting) Violette

Mr. Violette stated that work was ongoing. There has been a lot of association engagement, particularly by Board members. The web site is progressing well and it is expected it will be launched at the Policies and Practices meeting. The PT anchor program is moving along well. Mr. Bush pointed out that there is a lot of re-writing to be done on the web site.

7. Third Party product certification:

Nothing reported.

8. ACES Report:

Mr. Bush reported that the next meeting will be the week of April 16 or 23rd. Follows ups from the last meeting include the letter from ACIL to Mary Ann Garrahan. Regarding the re-manufacturing issue. Mr. Bush will send out a meeting notice.

2 CAS ExCo Meeting Minutes 022212□ Action: Mr. Bush to send the letter to Mr. Anderson for inclusion in these minutes.

OSHA2012MeetingR equest_1-13-12-Final.pdf

9. Smart Grid Task Force Report:

Mr. Heirman reported on SGTF activities. The published press releases for our AB’s involvement and ACIL’s involvement and our support of the Smart Grid interoperability activities have been well covered in the releases. There were press releases from NIST, the SGTCC, A2LA and an ACIL press release. (See ACIL web site). Rik Drummond, the chair of the SGTCC has sent a note to Mr. Heirman thanking ACIL for the advertising and support of the work of the SGTCC. Mr. Bush asked members to send out the ACIL press release to their customers and contacts. Mr. Heirman also introduced the press release from ANSI, (see attached), and the issue of ANSI claiming to be the coordinator of US Conformity Assessment is referenced again. This issue is addressed in agenda item 10. http://www.ansi.org/news_publications/news_story.aspx?menuid=7&articleid=3130

Mr. Heirman reported that the SGTCC is working on an end to end template, but it is still at the formative stage. A meeting in Texas this week is working on filling in some of the blanks. Mr. Heirman is monitoring this closely.

The elections for the SGTCC is in progress at the moment and closes on March 1. ACIL is on the slate, which has to voted as a whole. If the slate is approved we will now have a vote on the SGTCC as well as the SGIP.

There is a Smart Grip Interoperability Panel (SGIP) face to face meeting coming up in Charlotte, NC. (See link for details). Both A2LA and Perry Johnson are participating in a panel session, the purpose of which, is for the accrediting bodies to be introduced to the ITCA’s and vice versa. Mr. Heirman and Mr. Violette are also attending.

https://collaborate.nist.gov/twiki-sggrid/bin/view/SmartGrid/Spring2012Schedule

Both Mr. Bush & Mr. Violette acknowledged the sterling work Mr. Heirman and the SGTF have accomplished in the two years since the ACIL initiative was started. Mr. Heirman stated that ACIL is now one of the leaders in Smart Grid work, coming from way behind when the Task Group was formed.

10. ANSI as a Conformity Assessment Coordinator for the United States:

Mr. Bush reported that just before the last Government Affairs Committee meeting at the end of January, the White House NFTC activity final report came out, and it stated clearly on the last page that NIST is the coordinator of Conformity Assessment in the United States and sited the Statute which is the NTTA.

MemoWhiteHousePri nciplesStdsActivity011712.pdf

3 CAS ExCo Meeting Minutes 022212□ 11. TCB Council Update:

Mr. Koster had nothing new to report. He reminded the meeting that there is a training course coming up in April. Membership is free to ACIL for one year.

Action: A reminder to be sent out to the membership about the TCB offer.

“TCB Membership: is available to companies that are designated Telecommunication Certification Bodies (TCB's). The annual fee for TCB Membership is $1250. Associate Membership: is available to any companies who wish to participate in the activities of the TCB Council and receive the member benefits, such as periodic email notices of current activities, discounted registration fees for Workshop attendance or DVD's of FCC presentations. The annual fee for Associate Membership is $850”

12. PT Program activities:

The Quality System Manual is in an advanced stage getting ready for our accreditation to ISO 17043. Mr. Hodes stated that there are only three other PT providers in the world that have ever run an EMC PT program. Non-are accredited and non-is sustainable, only periodically run.

Mr. Hodes announced that we could possibly have 4 other EMC programs in addition to the two we currently have and that he was researching possible artifacts. Regarding our accreditation, the target date to deliver to our accrediting body, (A2LA), the documentation ready for review and audit. is mid April.

Mr. Heirman announced that there will be a presentation on how to carry out PT tests given by Mr. Hodes at the 2012 IEEE-EMC Symposium on the afternoon of August 2, 2012 in Pittsburg.

Mr. Anderson gave an update on the current rounds for the two artifacts in progress.

13. A.O.B.

Mr. Hodes asked Mr. Violette if he could reach out to the missing ExCo members, as there have been several CAS meetings recently, where there was no quorum. Mr. Bush informed the section that the bylaws and section operating procedures were under review and maybe some kind of attendance requirement will be incorporated in the revised operating rules.

Action: Mr. Anderson to send Mr. Violette the ExCo contact list.

Secretaries note: already actioned.

14. Next Conference Call: April 25 11:00 a.m. EDT

15. Adjournment : 11:50 p.m. EST

4 CAS ExCo Meeting Minutes 022212□