From October 4 to 7, 2017, the 6th International Proficiency Testing Conference was held as scheduled in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. The conference was hosted by CEPROCIM S.A. of Romania and the Romanian Association of Proficiency Testing Providers (AFSIC), with more than 80 representatives from 16 countries around the world attending. Zhu Xiaoling, Quality Director of the Cement Inspection and Certification Institute of China Building Materials Test and Certification Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as CTC) and Director of the Proficiency Testing Center, and Liang Huichao, Deputy Director of the Proficiency Testing Center, attended the conference.

The International Proficiency Testing Conference has been organized every two years since 2007. Participants are mainly proficiency testing providers, proficiency testing participants, reference material producers, certification and accreditation bodies, government administrators, and industry associations from countries around the world. The main topics of the conference are experience exchange between proficiency testing providers and participants, statistical analysis of proficiency testing results, test methods, sample preparation, quality monitoring, reference materials, and other topics, covering multiple technical fields such as chemistry, physics, electronics, food and drugs, environment, building materials, plastics, machinery, metals, petrochemicals, soil, and wood.

The conference was divided into seven major themes: proficiency testing schemes, reference materials and proficiency testing, measurement uncertainty and proficiency testing, internal quality control analysis and proficiency testing, metrological traceability and proficiency testing, quality management certification and participation in proficiency testing, and laboratory analytical methods. The conference featured diverse formats, including oral presentations, paper displays, exhibitions, training, and group discussions. During the conference, the organizing committee arranged special training sessions on the revision of ISO 17025 and the calculation of measurement uncertainty.

A total of 18 papers were selected for oral presentations. Zhu Xiaoling and Liang Huichao respectively delivered oral presentations in English on the implementation of the National Cement Interlaboratory Comparison and the proficiency testing of thermal conductivity of insulation materials. Wu Shasha and Yu Kexiao from the CTC Proficiency Testing Center presented two posters.

CTC is a proficiency testing provider accredited by the China National Accreditation Service for Conformity Assessment. For many years, it has undertaken various proficiency testing, interlaboratory comparisons, and National Cement Interlaboratory Comparisons, accumulating extensive practical experience. Through the exchanges at this International Proficiency Testing Conference, CTC broadened its horizons and established contacts with relevant foreign institutions, which will greatly promote CTC's thinking in developing proficiency testing and improve its level of organizing and implementing proficiency testing.