IIW History 1990-2015

Another successful IIW IAB meeting, held at the IIW Annual Assembly, Chennai, India, in 2011

Not surprisingly, the guideline developed in the compromise proposal was not used by IIWANBs because of the associated restrictions imposed on them through the prohibition on the use of terms such as ‘international’ and the use of IIW’s logo on certificates. The matter was raised again in the IIW IAB by several members in 2012 and the IAB agreed to present a proposal to the IIW Board of Directors to revisit the decision made in 2009. This proposal was made in consideration that other Member Societies were now offering their own inspector certification programmes without geographical restriction in other IIW Member Countries. 23 In light of this the IIW Board concluded that an Advisory Group was needed and this was then set up in January 2013 with Dr Luca Costa (Italy) as convenor. Numerous examples of Member Countries joining IIW primarily to participate in the IIW IAB scheme became increasingly apparent following its introduction in 2000. This, in turn, had a positive effect in discouraging the development of potentially diverse national or regional schemes. 24 In consideration of this there was a view by several of these members that an IIW Authorised Training Body (ATB) wishing to run welding education or training courses in a foreign country should be expected to first reach an agreement with the local ANB, if one existed. 25

LINKING PEOPLE, JOINING NATIONS