Caption:
Initial SECOTA meeting in Frankfurt

Photo:
ESSA





Beginning of SECOTA Working Group

Comparison of Testing and Certification in Europe


Frankfurt/M. – November 2018. On the 19th of October2018, the first official meeting of SECOTA took place in Frankfurt am Main. The working group, made up of international representatives from all sectors of the physical security and insurance industry, has set itself the goal of making laboratories easier to compare in the future - through regular comparative tests. Here, test philosophies and processes should be harmonized, thereby creating a transparent industry platform for the continuous exchange of experience.

Transparency and comparability of laboratory work always play a special role in the security industry. It is therefore essential for manufacturers, insurers and customers that all laboratories test and evaluate on the basis of the same quality requirements. Ultimately, this can only be achieved by means of an open exchange of knowledge and harmonization of testing processes and testing evaluation.

SECOTA – Security, Equivalent, Certification, Organization, Testing and Auditing – has set itself the task of making testing and certification in Europe comparable and comprehensible to all parties of interest. "We rely on four pillars: transparency, comparability, information exchange and compliance with standards. In no way should our activities soften the quality criteria achieved so far. Rather, they should be improved by harmonizing processes," says Falko Adomat of the European Security Systems Association (ESSA).

The first meeting was attended by 25 participants from 12 countries. The results of this meeting and the next steps will be presented at the ESSA General Assembly. Over the coming year, SECOTA will develop several concepts for holistic comparison tests and share them with the participating laboratories and certification bodies. In principle, all interested laboratories can participate in the comparison tests. An application can be submitted informally to ESSA.

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As of: 13th of November 2018