Scope of EFNDT

A.  HISTORY

The European Federation for NDT (EFNDT) was founded at a meeting in Copenhagen during the 7th European Conference on NDT in May 1998.

The roots of the Federation lie in the European Council of NDT which was formed under the leadership of Guisseppi Nardoni during the 3rd European NDT Conference in Florence in 1984.

B.  OBJECTIVES OF EFNDT

The overall mission of EFNDT (European Federation for NDT) is to bring together the resources of the individual national societies and organisations in the field of NDT in Europe to create a more effective and more valuable voice for the NDT industry, the NDT profession, users of NDT and the wider community.

Specific objectives include:

  • Promote the importance of NDT and related research, development, training, certification and accreditation to improve reliability and safety of all the engineered items which are essential to everyday living.
  • Act as the voice of the community of NDT in Europe.
  • Encourage contacts between NDT Societies in Europe and other organisations with an interest in NDT.
  • Represent the European community of NDT in meetings with European Commission and related bodies.
  • Contribute to the elimination of trade barriers.
  • Organise conferences and seminars, including the European Conference on NDT (ECNDT).
  • Organise working groups and make studies in the field of NDT.
  • Publish Journals, reports in the field of NDT.
  • Provide support for training certification examinations.
  • Promote the execution of R&D projects and their exploitation.
  • Promote certification systems for personnel and/or organisations in Europe.

Non-destructive testing and technical diagnostics covers the whole field of inspection and condition monitoring technologies used to protect the safety of the public, equipment, installations and the environment.

C.  EFNDT OFFERS

EFNDT offers a route to:

  • More than 40 NDT Societies (including all of those in Europe).
  • More than 15.000 members of these individual national societies.
  • More than 1.500 businesses in NDT which are corporate (company) members of the national societies.
  • Eighteen NDT personnel certification bodies which are recognised under the EFNDT Multilateral Recognition Agreement.
  • More than 20.000 NDT personnel, certificated by EFNDT recognised third party certification schemes in accordance with ISO9712 and/or EN473.
  • Numerous associated bodies whose activities impact on the NDT business and personnel working in the NDT field.

D.  MEMBERSHIP

Full Membership of EFNDT is open to legally incorporated NDT Societies in the countries which fall in the geographical area of Europe defined by the UN.

Associate Membership is open to other non-profit legally incorporated organisations interested in NDT worldwide.

Currently (March 2009) there are 32 Full Members and 6 Associate Members, see Directory http://www.efndt.org/Members.aspx , which also provides web links to the members.

E.  ICNDT (INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE FOR NDT)

ICNDT is a non-profit association registered in Vienna, whose members are NDT Societies from all around the world.  ICNDT was formed as a committee in 1960 and incorporated as a formal association on 1 May 2008.

EFNDT is one of the four Regional Groups of NDT Societies which are affiliated to the ICNDT.  The others are the Asia-Pacific NDT Committee, the African Federation for NDT and the Pan-American NDT Committee.  The Board of EFNDT nominates two representatives to the ICNDT Policy and General Purposes committee.  Currently, the representatives are Professor Dr Vjera Krstelj and Professor  Dr Emilio Romero.

Details of ICNDT can be found at www.icndt.org.

F.  GOVERNANCE

The European Federation for NDT is registered in Brussels as an international non-profit association (AISBL) which is owned by its members, with headquarters at Rue du Commerce 20-22, B-1000 Brussels, Belgium (c/o CEOC International).

The affairs of EFNDT are governed by Statutes/Articles approved by the Belgian government and published in Le Moniteur Belge.

Each Member of EFNDT nominates a member of the General Assembly.  Each year, the General Assembly meets to approve the Report of the Board of Directors and the Accounts.  Full Members have voting rights.  Associate Members may attend the General Assembly but do not have a vote.

Every three years, the General Assembly elects a President, a Vice President and a Board of Directors (10 people including the President and the Vice President) for the following three years.  Nominations are received from the members of the General Assembly.  Elections are conducted by secret ballot in accordance with Operating Procedure No. 1.

The Board of Directors elects a Treasurer and a national NDT Society to act as Secretariat to the Federation.

In order to provide continuity and/or in recognition of specific needs the Board may co-opt two further non-voting members to the Board.

Membership fees are approved by the General Assembly.  Currently the annual fee is 300 Euro for Full Membership and 150 Euro for Associate Membership.

G.  CONFERENCES

EFNDT selects from amongst its members the country to host each European NDT Conference.  The Conference is held every four years (approximately half-way between World Conferences which also operate on a four-year cycle) and incorporates a major exhibition, multiple conference sessions and important EFNDT meetings.

For details of the next European Conference, organised by the Czech Society for NDT, to be held 6-10 October 2014 in Prague, Czech Republic, visit www.ecndt2014.com

EFNDT sponsors other specialist meetings and symposia - details are given in the Directory which is published as a service to help organisations avoid unnecessary clashes with other events.

H.  BOARD OF DIRECTORS

The current Board of Directors is listed in http://www.efndt.org/Organisation/BoardofDirectors.aspx,

I.  COMMITTEES, WORKING GROUPS AND FORUMS

EFNDT operates through a series of Committees, Working Groups and Forums.

Committees are nominated by the Board and are responsible for execution of specific tasks on behalf of the Board. For example:

  • Certification Executive Committee.  
    Responsible for administration of the Multilateral Recognition Agreement (MRA), the NDT Examination Question Bank, EFNDT approval of certification bodies and liaison with Standards and Accreditation Bodies.

Working/Task Groups are formed for specific purposes and include individuals nominated by members of the General Assembly and external experts.  Examples are:

  • Working Group on Radiation Protection and Transport.
  • Working Group on NDT for Public Safety and Security.
  • Task Group to prepare European Guidelines on NDT Quality.

Forums are facilitated by EFNDT in order to bring together interested parties in specific areas of NDT.  Examples are:

  • The European Forum of National Aerospace NDT Boards
  • The Forum on Certification and Qualification

J. INFORMATION SERVICES 

EFNDT provides a search facility focussed specifically on the website of EFNDT and its member societies, using Google Custom Search.To search topics enter the subject in the box “Google Customs Search”.

 
K.  PUBLICATIONS

  • Insight– Non-Destructive Testing and Condition Monitoring
    EFNDT endorses Insight as the official “European Journal for NDT”.  Four of the twelve issues each year focus on European NDT.  More information on Insight can be found at www.bindt.org.

  • EFNDT News 
    Commencing in the autumn of 2008, EFNDT publish a Newsletter - “EFNDT News” every three/four months.  This newsletter is available on this website (see 'Quick Links').

Many of the Member Societies of EFNDT have their own NDT Publications (Journals and Books) generally in their national language.  Details are given on each member’s website.  It is possible to search all of these websites using the EFNDT Google Custom Search facility (see information services).

L.  PRESIDENTS AND VICE PRESIDENTS

The following have served EFNDT for the periods indicated:

Presidents

Dierk Schnitger, Germany     1998 - 1999
Roger Roche, France    2000 - 2003
Mike Farley, United Kingdom     2003 - 2009
Vjera Krstelj, Croatia    2009 - 2012
Matthias Purschke, Germany    2012 - 2015 
Trampus Peter, Hungary    2015 - 2018
Lyon Roger, United Kingdom    2018 - 2019
Gómez Fermín, Spain    2020 -

 

Vice Presidents

Bjarne Larsen, Denmark     1998 - 2000
Mike Farley, United Kingdom     2000 - 2003
Vladimir Klyuev, Russia    2003 - 2005
Gerhard Aufricht , Austria     2005 - 2012
Péter Trampus, Hungary    2012 - 2015
Lyon Roger, United Kingdom    2015 - 2018
Gómez Fermín, Spain    2018 - 2019
Mullin Alexander, Russia    2020 - 2023

 

M.  AWARDS AND RECOGNITION

 

At each European Conference, EFNDT makes awards to up to three individuals or organisations which have made major contributions to NDT in Europe during the previous four years or longer.

The process for nominations is explained on http://www.efndt.org/EFNDT/EFNDTAward.aspx .

Each year, each of the member NDT Societies may nominate up to three individuals or companies to receive a letter of commendation in recognition of outstanding voluntary effort in support of a member society or EFNDT.  

N.  LIAISON WITH OTHER EUROPEAN BODIES WITH INTERESTS IN NDT

EFNDT is keen to cooperate with other European Bodies with interests in NDT to support their work and to provide informed input.

Currently, EFNDT liaises with:

  • CEN Committee TC138 NDT
  • Notified Bodies Forum WG
  • CEOC International
  • Eurolab

Organisations wishing to liaise with EFNDT are invited to contact the Secretariat (via www.efndt.org).

When appropriate, EFNDT will prepare draft documents and will circulate drafts for comment to the membership.