What Is IAF
Accreditation is the independent evaluation of conformity assessment bodies against recognized standards to ensure their impartiality and competence. Through the application of national and international standards, governments, procurers and consumers can have confidence in the calibration and test results, inspection reports and certification provided.
Accreditation bodies are established in many countries with the main objective of ensuring that conformity assessment bodies can be overseen by a competent body.
Accreditation bodies, which have been evaluated by peers as competent, sign arrangements that increase the acceptance of products and services across borders, thereby creating a framework to support international trade through the removal of technical barriers.
This arrangement is administered by the International Accreditation Forum (IAF), in the field of management systems, products, services, personnel and other similar conformity assessment programs, and the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC), in the field of accreditation laboratories and inspections.
IAF Membership
Membership of the IAF accreditation body is open to organizations conducting and administering the programs by which they accredit bodies for certification / registration of quality systems, products, services, personnel, environmental management systems, or similar conformity assessment programs. These organizations must state their intention to join the IAF Multilateral Recognition Agreement (MLA) which recognizes the accreditation equivalence of other members to theirs.
Members of the regional accreditation group are made up of associations of accreditation bodies, and possibly other bodies, which work together in identified geographic areas to establish and maintain multilateral recognition agreements based on peer evaluation systems, and represent the interests of accredited entities, industry, users and similar organizations involved in , submit to, utilize, accept or rely on the results of conformity assessments from bodies accredited by IAF accreditation body members, and which support IAF objectives.
A recognized regional accreditation group is a regional accreditation group that has been peer-evaluated to confirm that its membership and MLA’s peer evaluation criteria and process meet or exceed IAF requirements.
IAF association members are organizations or associations that represent a group of similar entities internationally or within an economy or region. These entities are linked to programs by IAF accreditation body members that support IAF objectives.