From September 16 to 19, 2015, the 5th International Proficiency Testing Conference was held as scheduled in Timisoara, Romania, a city with a long history in Europe. The conference was hosted by the Romanian Association of Proficiency Testing Providers (AFSIC), with more than 90 representatives from 28 countries around the world attending. A representative from the Romanian Ministry of Education attended and delivered a speech. Wang Ruihai, Deputy President of the Cement Inspection and Certification Institute of China Building Materials Test and Certification Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as CTC), and Zhu Xiaoling, Quality Director, 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 eight major themes: proficiency testing schemes (PT), reference materials (RM), verification of test methods (VTM), measurement uncertainty (UM), internal quality control (IQC), metrological traceability (MT), accreditation of quality management (AQM), and research on statistical methods for interlaboratory comparisons (DAM). The conference featured diverse formats, including oral presentations, poster displays, exhibitions, training, lectures, and group discussions. During the conference, the organizing committee arranged special training sessions on ISO 17043:2010 and ISO 13528:2015.

A total of 21 papers were selected for oral presentations, 3 of which came from Chinese proficiency testing providers. The content covered various aspects such as the organization, design, samples, and statistics of proficiency testing, as well as laboratory quality monitoring.

Senior Engineer Zhu Xiaoling delivered an oral presentation in English at the conference, introducing the proficiency testing scheme for optical performance testing of architectural glass organized and implemented by CTC in 2014; the paper submitted by Professor Wang Ruihai was displayed on a poster.

CTC is a proficiency testing provider accredited by the China National Accreditation Service for Conformity Assessment (CNAS) (Certificate No. CNAS PT0014). For many years, it has undertaken various proficiency testing and interlaboratory comparisons, accumulating extensive practical experience and cultivating a large number of proficiency testing experts. Through the exchanges at this International Proficiency Testing Conference, CTC broadened its horizons, which will greatly promote CTC's thinking in developing proficiency testing and improve its level of organizing and implementing proficiency testing.