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Laboratory and inspection body accreditation authorities throughout
the world have established international and regional groupings
of cooperation.
The
objectives of the cooperation are to:
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Develop and harmonise laboratory and inspection accreditation
practices
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Promote these accreditation to industry, governments, regulators
and consumers
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Foster and promote competent laboratories and inspection bodies
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Gain universal acceptance of accredited certificates and reports
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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.
Full members of ILAC, including IANZ, are signatories to Mutual
Recognition Arrangements, which allow for global acceptance of accredited
test and inspection reports.
Contact
details of each current member country of ILAC can be found on http://www.ilac.org/members_contact_details.html
A full
list of signatory partners, their scope of mutual recognition and
signing dates can be found on http://www.ilac.org/documents/mra_signatories.pdf
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 four regional accreditation cooperation organisations:
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Asia Pacific Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (APLAC)
– of which IANZ is a foundation signatory
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European cooperation for Accreditation (EA).A
full list of signatory partners, their scope of mutual recognition
and signing dates can be found on http://www.european-accreditation.org/content/mla/scopes.htm
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Inter-American Accreditation Cooperation (IAAC)
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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:
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Maintain conformance with ISO 17011, and
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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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