EAWOP and EFPA established a joint Task Force in 2003, whose mission is to define the minimum European qualifications for test users in the field of occupational psychology. EAWOP's and EFPA"s role are to define the standards of competence, to facilitate the recognition of qualifications that meet those standards, to assist countries in developing such qualifications and to audit proposed qualifications to see if they are in line with the EAWOP-EFPA standard. In the General Assemblies of EAWOP (2005, May) and EFPA (2005, July) the proposed standards was accepted as a basis for the further development.

Now EAWOP has taken the leading role in implementing a European process for accrediting local national qualifications in test use based on the Standards. A joint EFPA-EAWOP implementation group has been established. This Working Group will among others complete the standards development and definition work, develop a set of rules and regulations regarding European accreditation and European certification and prepare a proposal for how the Standards and the accreditation is administrated and managed at the European level, including a definition of the responsible partners and bodies. The Working Group will produce detailed recommendations on implementation for the EFPA and EAWOP Executive Committees in 2007 with final proposals for the standards and their implementation.

The Working Group will organize in October/ November 2006 a workshop, where a final proposal of standards, accreditation procedures and administrative solutions are presented and evaluated. The workshop is open to all representatives of EAWOP and EFPA constituents. The date and place of the workshop will be informed soon by sending a separate call to all EAWOP constituents.

The Steering Group members are: Andreas Klug (Germany) as Chair/ Convenor, Henry Honkanen (Finland) as EAWOP liaison, Dave Bartram (UK) as EFPA liaison, Sverre Nielsen (Norway) representing the work of Sweden and Norway on test user qualification development, Vicent González-Romá (Spain) representing countries that are still considering to adopt such standards.

Please contact to have more information: Andreas Klug (dr.klug@web.de) or Henry Honkanen (henry.honkanen@kolumbus.fi).