Western Hemisphere: ICITAP Brings Experts Together to Discuss International Accreditation

On June 24, ICITAP-Mexico, with the assistance of ICITAP-Central America, hosted the fourth in a series of virtual conferences designed to assist forensic experts in accredited and non-accredited forensic laboratories across Mexico and Latin American by addressing the top ten non-conformities found by accrediting bodies on accreditation inspections or surveillance visits. This webinar, dedicated to fingerprint analysis, was conducted by ICITAP-Mexico Fingerprint experts and an expert from Hidalgo’s Fiscalia General. The presenters have served as technical assessors in multiple accreditation audits within Mexico, and in some cases the U.S. and Central and South America. They addressed frequently observed non-conformities with respect to the applicable 17020 and 17025 standards issued by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), and offered relevant examples for all labs and suggested actions to resolve each one. The remainder of the webinar was dedicated to Q&As. A total of 311 experts attended from state and federal governments in Mexico, as well as from Belize, Costa Rica, Honduras, Panama, Colombia and Puerto Rico.