The role of Accreditation in Quality Infrastructure

Accreditation does not guarantee success; it is only one step along the quality journey involving quality management, error reduction, customer satisfaction, and continual improvement. It contributes to the following:

  • Enhances confidence in certificates and conformity statements
  • Enhances quality of results by ensuring their traceability, comparability, validity and commutability
  • Provides measurement of strength and integrity of the quality system
  • Allows for continual monitoring of the quality system
  • Enables recognition for efforts
  • Gaining an accreditation is considered to be a milestone for many organisations. Maintaining that accreditation over time through sustained outcomes and performance is an even greater achievement.

Accreditation must be objective, transparent and effective.

Accredited laboratories tend to:

  • Perform better on proficiency testing
  • Are more likely to have a working quality management system
  • Ensure international consistency in conformity assessment