Main Takeaways

  • Accreditation is an attestation of the competence and impartiality. Accreditation increases transparency and acceptance of conformity assessment procedures in areas such as health and well-being, water and sanitation, food safety, energy, industry and manufacturing.
  • Accreditation is a critical component of the NQI and therefore should harness the full support of the public/private sector as well as the regulated and non-regulated sectors.
  • Accreditation services are provided by a national accreditation body (NAB), if it exists. Otherwise, access to these services are sourced from overseas. Setting up a NAB is very demanding in terms of financial and human resources, including technical expertise.
  • There is great scope for increased regional cooperation as well as technical assistance by agencies like UNIDO through bilateral and multilateral funding.
  • At international level, IAF is the world association of conformity assessment accreditation bodies and other bodies interested in conformity assessment in the fields of management systems, products, services, personnel and other similar programmes of conformity assessment. ILAC is the international organization for accreditation bodies accrediting calibration laboratories, testing laboratories, medical testing laboratories and inspection bodies.
  • By becoming signatory to the ILAC Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA) and IAF Multilateral Recognition Agreement (MLA), a national accreditation body ensures that the conformity assessment results (test/calibration certificates, certifications, inspection reports) from laboratories, certification bodies and inspection bodies it has accredited are recognized by foreign accreditation bodies who are signatories to the respective MRA or MLA.