International Accreditation Forum

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The International Accreditation Forum, Inc. (IAF) is the worldwide association of conformity assessment accreditation bodies and other bodies interested in conformity assessment in the fields of management systems, products, services, personnel, processes, validation and verification and other similar programs of conformity assessment. Its primary function is to develop a single worldwide program of conformity assessment which reduces risk for businesses and their customers by assuring them that accredited certificates and validation and verification statements may be relied upon.

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IAF accreditation body members accredit certification or validation and verification bodies that issue certificates or statements attesting that an organization is complying with a specified standard.

Accreditation is an essential ingredient for competitiveness, access to new markets, productivity improvement, innovation of new products and environmental protection, as well as the health and safety of populations. An efficient and effective quality and standards infrastructure, underpinned by accreditation, is key to a country’s growth, as well as being essential in creating a safer, cleaner, and more equitable and well-integrated world. Accreditation provides confidence in the quality, safety, and environmental credentials of goods, services, and processes. It is required for the effective operation of domestic markets, and its international recognition is important to enable access to foreign markets. Accreditation is a critical element in promoting and sustaining economic development as well as environmental and social well-being, as it provides confidence in metrology, standardization, and conformity assessment (which comprises testing, calibration, inspection, and certification).

IAF has prepared an informative brochure which provides general information about IAF, its activities, membership and programs.

Role of the IAF

The primary purpose of IAF is two-fold. Firstly, to ensure that its accreditation body members only accredit bodies that are competent to do the work they undertake and are not subject to conflicts of interest. The second purpose of the IAF is to maintain a mutual recognition arrangement, known as the IAF Multilateral Recognition Arrangement (MLA), between its accreditation body members which reduces risk to business and its customers by ensuring that an accredited certificate may be relied upon anywhere in the world. The MLA contributes to the freedom of world trade by eliminating technical barriers to trade. IAF works to find the most effective way of achieving a single system that will allow companies with an accredited conformity assessment certificate or statement in one part of the world, to have that certificate or statement recognized elsewhere in the world. The objective of the MLA is that it will cover all countries in the world, thus eliminating the need for suppliers of products or services to be certified in each country where they sell their products or services.

According to the World Bank, accreditation and the wider quality infrastructure, serve the needs of governments, businesses, and consumers. For governments, it provides a mechanism to support relevant trade and industrial policies and ensures enforcement of mandatory technical regulations. Further information can be found on Public Sector Assurance. For businesses, it helps limit the cost of production, by increasing productivity and enabling firms to be more competitive in domestic and foreign markets. More information can be found on Business Benefits. For consumers, it ensures public health and safety as well as environmental and consumer protection. Accreditation is closely linked to the United Nations goals of promotion of sustainable development, to protection of human rights, and advancing economic prosperity. The work of ILAC and IAF is strongly aligned to key projects of UNIDO and UNECE, which promote the adoption of accreditation to facilitate trade, provide employment opportunities, and to facilitate exports and foreign direct investment. Maintaining strategic partnerships and technical cooperation, together with the use of standards and compliance related activities, forms an important part of UNIDO’s approach. The relationship between UNIDO, the IAF and ILAC aims to enhance the impact of industrial development on economic growth and achieving the SDGs.

IAF CertSearch

IAF launched IAF CertSearch so accredited management systems certifications from around the world can be validated. IAF CertSearch is a global database where users can search and validate the status of accredited certification issued by a certification body which has been accredited by an IAF signatory member accreditation body. IAF CertSearch also provides organisations with information about the accredited network, which includes a list of all accreditation bodies and certification bodies across the globe.

• Organisations seeking to become certified can browse a list of accredited certification bodies here.

• Organisations seeking accreditation can browse a list of accreditation bodies here.

• Organisations seeking to trade with a certified company can browse companies on the voluntary trade marketplace here.

Structure of the IAF

The highest level of authority in IAF is the Members in a General Meeting. General Meetings make decisions and lay down policy in the name of the members. The Board is responsible for legal actions to be carried out on behalf of the members, for developing broad policy directions for IAF and for ensuring that the day-to-day work of the IAF is carried out in accordance with policies approved by members. The terms of reference, tasks and duties as defined by the Bylaws and the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) remain unchanged for the members at a General Meeting, the Board of Directors and the Secretary. The Executive Committee is responsible to the Board of Directors for the day-to-day work of IAF on the basis of decisions made by the Members and directions by the Board of Directors. The operations of all IAF Committees and Subordinate Groups, including the Executive Committee, are subject to the IAF General Procedures.

Membership

The International Accreditation Forum is a global association of accreditation bodies, conformity assessment body associations, Regional Accreditation Groups, and industry associations, including scheme owners.

An official list is available online.

World Accreditation Day

The IAF and ILAC, the global associations for accreditation, established World Accreditation Day to take place each year on June 9 to act as a springboard for awareness-raising actions and to promote accreditation to governments, the public and private sectors, and, more generally, citizens. It also provides national organisations the opportunity to organize activities related to the theme of the day. World accreditation days since 2009

See also

Related Research Articles

Conformance testing — an element of conformity assessment, and also known as compliance testing, or type testing — is testing or other activities that determine whether a process, product, or service complies with the requirements of a specification, technical standard, contract, or regulation. Testing is often either logical testing or physical testing. The test procedures may involve other criteria from mathematical testing or chemical testing. Beyond simple conformance, other requirements for efficiency, interoperability, or compliance may apply. Conformance testing may be undertaken by the producer of the product or service being assessed, by a user, or by an accredited independent organization, which can sometimes be the author of the standard being used. When testing is accompanied by certification, the products or services may then be advertised as being certified in compliance with the referred technical standard. Manufacturers and suppliers of products and services rely on such certification including listing on the certification body's website, to assure quality to the end user and that competing suppliers are on the same level.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Metrology</span> Science of measurement and its application

Metrology is the scientific study of measurement. It establishes a common understanding of units, crucial in linking human activities. Modern metrology has its roots in the French Revolution's political motivation to standardise units in France when a length standard taken from a natural source was proposed. This led to the creation of the decimal-based metric system in 1795, establishing a set of standards for other types of measurements. Several other countries adopted the metric system between 1795 and 1875; to ensure conformity between the countries, the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM) was established by the Metre Convention. This has evolved into the International System of Units (SI) as a result of a resolution at the 11th General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM) in 1960.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CE marking</span> European Declaration of conformity mark

The presence of the logo on commercial products indicates that the manufacturer or importer affirms the goods' conformity with European health, safety, and environmental protection standards. It is not a quality indicator or a certification mark. The CE marking is required for goods sold in the European Economic Area (EEA); goods sold elsewhere may also carry the mark.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">International Organization of Legal Metrology</span>

The International Organization of Legal Metrology, is an intergovernmental organisation that was created in 1955 to promote the global harmonisation of the legal metrology procedures that underpin and facilitate international trade.

Accreditation is the independent, third-party evaluation of a conformity assessment body against recognised standards, conveying formal demonstration of its impartiality and competence to carry out specific conformity assessment tasks.

The Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade, commonly referred to as the TBT Agreement, is an international treaty administered by the World Trade Organization. It was last renegotiated during the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, with its present form entering into force with the establishment of the WTO at the beginning of 1995, binding on all WTO members.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Product certification</span> Performance and quality assurance

Product certification or product qualification is the process of certifying that a certain product has passed performance tests and quality assurance tests, and meets qualification criteria stipulated in contracts, regulations, or specifications.

IEC 61508 is an international standard published by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) consisting of methods on how to apply, design, deploy and maintain automatic protection systems called safety-related systems. It is titled Functional Safety of Electrical/Electronic/Programmable Electronic Safety-related Systems.

The Standards Council of Canada (SCC) / Conseil canadien des normes (CCN) is a Canadian organization with the mandate to promote voluntary standardization in Canada. The SCC is responsible for:

ISO 13485Medical devices -- Quality management systems -- Requirements for regulatory purposes is a voluntary standard, published by International Organization for Standardization (ISO) for the first time in 1996, and contains a comprehensive quality management system for the design and manufacture of medical devices. The latest version of this standard supersedes earlier documents such as EN 46001 and EN 46002 (1996), the previously published ISO 13485, and ISO 13488.

The South African National Accreditation System (SANAS) is the official accreditation body for South Africa. Founded in 1996, SANAS is headquartered in Pretoria, South Africa. SANAS accreditation certificates are a formal recognition by the Government of South Africa that an organisation is competent to perform specific tasks.

The International Accreditation Forum (IAF) Multilateral Recognition Arrangement (MLA) is an agreement for the mutual recognition of accredited certification between IAF Accreditation Body (AB) Member signatories. This agreement allows for the acceptance of accredited certification in many markets based on one accreditation. The worldwide recognition of certificates granted by IAF MLA signatories and their accredited bodies removes technical barriers to trade, reduces costs and adds value to business and customers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Notified body</span>

A notified body, in the European Union, is an organisation that has been designated by a member state to assess the conformity of certain products, before being placed on the EU market, with the applicable essential technical requirements. These essential requirements are publicised in European directives or regulations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joint Accreditation System of Australia and New Zealand</span>

Joint Accreditation System of Australia and New Zealand (JASANZ) is an independent, third party accreditation body that provides internationally recognised accreditation services.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories</span>

National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) provides accreditation to Conformity Assessment Bodies (Laboratories) in India. NABL Schemes include Accreditation (Recognition) of Technical competence of testing, calibration, medical testing laboratories, Proficiency testing providers (PTP) & Reference Material Producers (RMP) for a specific scope following ISO/IEC 17025, ISO 15189, ISO/IEC 17043 & ISO 17034:2016 Standards. It has Mutual Recognition Arrangement (MRA) with Asia Pacific Accreditation Cooperation (APAC), International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC).

Environmental certification is a form of environmental regulation and development where a company can voluntarily choose to comply with predefined processes or objectives set forth by the certification service. Most certification services have a logo which can be applied to products certified under their standards. This is seen as a form of corporate social responsibility allowing companies to address their obligation to minimise the harmful impacts to the environment by voluntarily following a set of externally set and measured objectives.

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The National Standardization Agency of Indonesia is the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) member body for Indonesia. BSN is a non-ministerial Indonesian government agency with the main task of carrying out governmental tasks in the field of standardization and conformity assessment in Indonesia.

Mutual recognition occurs when two or more countries or other institutions recognize one another's decisions or policies, for example in the field of conformity assessment, professional qualifications or in relation to criminal matters. A mutual recognition agreement (MRA) is an international agreement by which two or more countries agree to recognize one another's conformity assessments, decisions or results. A mutual recognition arrangement is an international arrangement based on such an agreement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Department of Standards Malaysia</span>

The Department of Standards Malaysia is the National Standards Body and the National Accreditation Body, providing confidence to various stakeholders, through credible standardisation and accreditation services for global competitiveness. Governed by the Standard of Malaysia Act 1996, the Department of Standard Malaysia is an agency established on 28 August 1996 under the purview of Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI).

References

    [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]

    1. ↑ "The Role of Accreditation in the context of Sustainable Development Goals" (PDF). UNIDO. 2013.
    2. ↑ "Setting up Accreditation Bodies in Developing Countries" (PDF). UNIDO. 2017.
    3. ↑ "The use of standards for reducing technical barriers to trade". UNECE's Working Party 6.
    4. ↑ "Ensuring Quality to Gain Access to Global Markets". World Bank Group.
    5. ↑ "About Us". www.iaf.nu. Retrieved 2024-01-11.
    6. ↑ "Members of the IAF MLA".
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