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DKD

Transfer of the copyright ownership and usage rights to DAkkS-DKD Guidelines and DAkkS-DKD Guides back to PTB

14.01.2021

In the future, the German Accreditation Body (DAkkS) will no longer hold or publish rules of their own that only describe the so-called "state of the art" (Level 4 and 5). This is provided for in the revised regulatory concept of the DAkkS. Numerous documents in the field of metrology will therefore be transferred to the German Calibration Service (DKD).

In the course of this process, DAkkS and PTB, the National Metrology Institute of Germany (Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt) have concluded an agreement on the basis of which all copyrights and usage rights to DAkkS-DKD guidelines and DAkkS-DKD guides will be transferred back to the German Calibration Service (DKD). DKD will in future revise and update the content of these documents, publish them and make them available on its website.

Background: On 3 May 2011, a committee for the development of metrological principles for calibration was established at PTB, in which PTB and accredited calibration laboratories work closely together. This body is known as “Deutscher Kalibrierdienst (DKD)” (German Calibration Service) and is headed by PTB. DKD is not an accreditation body. The principal objectives of DKD are the promotion of calibration for the purpose of dissemination of uniformity and the development of calibration guidelines and guides that represent the state of the art and can serve as a basis for accreditation procedures.

From 1 September 2018, DKD will again publish the above-mentioned documents, with a modified layout but unchanged in terms of content, as DKD guidelines and DKD guides. DKD will indicate in an appropriate manner that these documents are identical in content to the previous DAkkS-DKD guidelines or DAkkS-DKD guides.

In case the DKD (assisted by its Technical Committees) should revise the contents of the above-mentioned documents after 1 September 2018 and then publish these documents in an amended version, the previously valid version will be withdrawn after a transitional period of two years. Until then, the outdated versions will be published on the DKD homepage marked as such.

/* Update In this case, the DAkkS will also withdraw the corresponding versions of the DAkkS-DKD Guidelines and DAkkS-DKD Guides by 1 July 2021 at the latest. Update */

It should be noted that the so-called DAkkS-DKD papers and DAkkS-DKD information sheets are not affected by the transfer back to DKD. They continue to be subject to responsibility for revision and publication by DAkkS.

Consequences for accredited calibration laboratories in whose appendices to their accreditation certificates the above-mentioned DAkkS-DKD guidelines are listed:

Because the DAkkS-DKD guidelines are published with a modified layout but are unchanged in terms of content, no specific applications to DAkkS are required for matters relating exclusively to the conversion to the future form of publication of the calibration guidelines.

/* Update The change of layout in the valid accreditation certificates is carried out due to necessary updates of the certificate's appendices during re-accreditations or due to extensions or changes of the scope of accreditation. With the conversion of all accreditations of calibration laboratories to the new revision of DIN EN ISO/IEC 17025: 2018 by June 2021, all accreditation certificates must be reissued by the DAkkS. This ensures that from 1 July 2021 the publication of the "old set of DAkkS-DKD rules" is no longer required. Update */

Note: The EU Commission's extension of the transition period from DIN EN ISO/IEC 17025:2005 to DIN EN ISO/IEC 17025:2018 to 1 July 2021 has made it necessary to adjust the related transition periods. These have been taken into account in the update of this notification.