International Accreditation New Zealand - Your assurance of technical competence
 
 

 

Worldwide

 


Laboratory and inspection body accreditation authorities throughout the world have established international and regional groupings of cooperation.

The objectives of the cooperation are to:

  • Develop and harmonise laboratory and inspection accreditation practices
  • Promote these accreditation to industry, governments, regulators and consumers
  • Foster and promote competent laboratories and inspection bodies
  • Gain universal acceptance of accredited certificates and reports
  • Facilitate mutual recognition of accredited test, measurement and inspection results (see Mutual Recognition Arrangements)
  • Exchange technical knowledge among members.

These objectives are consistent with the World Trade Organisation’s Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT Agreement). This agreement encourages WTO members to recognise each other’s conformity assessment results, provided they are confident the procedures are equivalent. In most economies, Governments recognise and encourage the use of accredited reports to facilitate trade and for ensuring the safety of goods and services being imported.

International Cooperation
The forum for international cooperation between the various laboratory and inspection body accreditation schemes operated throughout the world is the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC). First started as a conference in 1977, with IANZ as a founding signatory, ILAC was formalised as cooperation in 1996. Its aim is to facilitate trade by promoting the acceptance of accredited test, calibration and inspection reports that can be relied on to provide accurate data.

Members of ILAC, including IANZ, are signatories to Mutual Recognition Arrangements, which allow for global acceptance of accredited test and inspection reports.

Details of each current member country of ILAC can be obtained by clicking on the hyperlinks below
(links to corresponding page of pdf document):

• Argentina
Australia
Austria
Belgium
Brazil
Canada

People’s Republic of China
Costa Rica
Cuba
Czech Republic
Denmark
Egypt
Estonia
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Guatemala

Hong Kong, China
India
Indonesia
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Japan
Republic of Korea
Latvia
Lithuania
Malaysia
Malta
Mexico
The Netherlands
New Zealand
Norway
• The Philippines*
Poland

Portugal
Romania
Singapore
Slovak Republic
Slovenia
South Africa
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Chinese Taipei (Taiwan)
Thailand
Tunisia
Turkey
United Kingdom
United States of America
Vietnam

* If you have a test report from a laboratory accredited by the Philippines Accreditation Office (PAO), please phone Ian Roy at IANZ on +64-9-580-6758.

Full information about ILAC and its activities are to be found on http://www.ilac.org/

Regional cooperation
ILAC members are also members of formally established regional accreditation cooperation organisations. These organisations have objectives similar to and compatible with ILAC, and are committed to the obligations of the ILAC Mutual Recognition Arrangement.

There are currently five regional accreditation cooperation organisations:

  • Asia Pacific Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (APLAC) – of which IANZ is a foundation signatory
  • Central Asian Cooperation on Metrology Accreditation and Quality (CAC-MAS-Q)
  • European cooperation for Accreditation (EA)
  • Inter-American Accreditation Cooperation (IAAC)
  • Southern African Development Community In Accreditation (SADCA)

Information about each of these regional accreditation cooperation organisations can be found on their websites - use the hyperlink provided.

Mutual Recognition Arrangement (MRAs)
The aim of the international accreditation cooperation – to facilitate trade and ensure safety for consumers - is realised through Mutual Recognition Arrangements between accreditation authority members of ILAC, carried out in accordance with ILAC rules and procedures. Each signatory to the MRA agree to:

  • Maintain conformance with ISO 17011, and
  • Ensure all accredited laboratories comply with ISO/IEC 17025 – or ISO 15189 for medical testing laboratories – and inspection bodies comply with ISO/IEC 17020.

All signatories are regularly peer-reviewed to show they continually meet the ILAC criteria for competence.

Full details of the ILAC Arrangement are to be found on www.ilac.org/ILAC arrangement.

 





 
 
 
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