What is accreditation?
Accreditation is the formal recognition that an organization is competent to perform specific processes, activities, or tasks (which are detailed in a scope of accreditation) in a reliable credible and accurate manner.
Accreditation is the independent evaluation of conformity assessment bodies against recognized standards to ensure their impartiality and competence to carry out specific activities, such as tests, calibrations, inspections and certifications. Accreditation is thus a strategic tool that underpins the credibility of products and services.
Accreditation is officially defined as “third-party attestation related to a conformity assessment body conveying formal demonstration of its competence to carry out specific conformity assessment tasks” (ISO/IEC 17000)”.
In other words, accreditation formally recognizes the technical competence of laboratories, inspection and certification bodies, so that certificates issued by these bodies are recognized as being reliable and trustworthy.
What is conformity assessment?
Definitions (ISO/IEC 17000):
- conformity assessment: demonstration that specified requirements relating to a product, process, system, person or body are fulfilled,
- third-party conformity assessment activity: conformity assessment activity that is performed by a person or body that is independent of the person or organization that provides the object, and of user interests in that object.
The subject field of conformity assessment includes activities such as testing, inspection and certification, as well as the accreditation of conformity assessment bodies.
Conformity Assessment is discussed in more detail in Module 7