The United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) is the sole national accreditation body recognised by the

British government His Majesty's Government, abbreviated to HM Government or otherwise UK Government, is the central government, central executive authority of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

to assess the competence of organisations that provide certification, testing, inspection and

calibration In measurement technology and metrology, calibration is the comparison of measurement values delivered by a device under test with those of a calibration standard of known accuracy. Such a standard could be another measurement device of known ...

services. It evaluates these conformity assessment bodies and then accredits them where they are found to meet relevant internationally specified standards.

Functions

*UKAS assesses conformity assessment bodies for competence against internationally recognised standards *UKAS accredits (recognising competence of organisations to provide conformity assessment tasks) *UKAS issues accreditation certificates and schedules showing the limits of the accreditation for a particular conformity assessment body and permits the use of the UKAS mark on accredited certification provided that it is accompanied by the UKAS Accreditation Number of the accredited body. The validity of an accreditation should be checked on the UKAS website. UKAS certificates do not bear an expiry date.

History

UKAS was set up in 1995 under a memorandum of understanding with the British government (between UKAS and the then Secretary of State for Trade and Industry). It resulted from the merger in 1995 of NAMAS (National Measurement Accreditation Service) and NACCB (National Accreditation Council for Certification Bodies). NAMAS was itself the result of a merger in 1985 of NATLAS (National Testing Laboratory Accreditation Scheme) formed in 1981 and BCS (British Calibration Service) formed in 1966.

Structure

UKAS is a non-profit-distributing private company. It is operated in the public interest as a

company limited by guarantee A company limited by guarantee (CLG) is a type of company where the liability of members in the event the company is wound up is limited to a (typically very small) amount listed in the company's articles or constitution. Most have no share ca ...

. It employs 190 staff and over 250 technical external assessors / experts. UKAS has members (instead of shareholders) who represent those who have an interest in accreditation – national and local government, business and industry, purchasers, users and quality managers. The present members are: *

Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy The secretary of state for business and trade (business secretary), is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with responsibility for the Department for Business and Trade. The incumbent is a member of the Cabinet of t ...

* The Association of British Certification Bodies * British Measurement and Testing Association *

Confederation of British Industry The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) is a British business interest group, which says it represents 190,000 businesses. The CBI has been described by the ''Financial Times'' as "Britain's biggest business lobby group". Incorporated by roy ...

* The Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs * Federation of Small Businesses * The

Local Authorities Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of governance or public administration within a particular sovereign state. Local governments typically constitute a subdivision of a higher-level political or administrative unit, such a ...

Coordinating Body of Regulatory Services * Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply * The Chartered Quality Institute * The Safety Assessment Federation * Food Standards Agency * Defence Procurement Agency *

Health and Safety Executive The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is a British public body responsible for the encouragement, regulation and enforcement of workplace health, safety and welfare. It has additionally adopted a research role into occupational risks in Great B ...

* Public Health Laboratory Services * British Retail Consortium In 2010 UKAS acquired the CPA (Clinical Pathology Accreditation) from the

medical royal college In the United Kingdom, some Commonwealth realm, Commonwealth realms and Republic of Ireland, Ireland, a medical royal college is a professional body responsible for the development of and training in one or more medical speciality, medical specialit ...

s. It started ISAS (Imaging Services Accreditation Scheme) for the Royal College of Radiologists and the College of Radiographers.

Standards covered

ISO/IEC 17025 ISO/ IEC 17025 General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories is the main standard used by testing and calibration laboratories. In most countries, ISO/IEC 17025 is the standard for which most labs must hold accr ...

ISO 15189 ''ISO 15189 Medical laboratories — Requirements for quality and competence'' is an international standard that specifies the quality management system requirements particular to medical laboratories. The standard was developed by the Internatio ...

* ISO/IEC 17020 * ISO/IEC 17021 ** ISO 9001 **

ISO 14001 The ISO 14000 family is a set of international standards for Natural environment, environment management systems. It was developed in March 1996 by International Organization for Standardization. The goal of these standards is to help organizations ...

** ISO 13485 ** ISO 19443 ** ISO 20000-1 ** ISO 28001 ** ISO 44001 ** ISO 45001 **

ISO/IEC 27001 ISO/IEC 27001 is an information security standard. It specifies the requirements for establishing, implementing, maintaining and continually improving an information security management system (ISMS). Organizations with an ISMS that meet the st ...

ISO 50001 ISO 50001 Energy management systems - Requirements with guidance for use, is an international standard created by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). It supports organizations in all sectors to use energy more efficiently thro ...

** ISO 55001 ** ISO 22301 * ISO/IEC 17024 * ISO/IEC 17065 * ISO/IEC 17043 * ISO 17034 * ISO/IEC 14065 * ISO/IEC 17029 * ISO 20387

References

External links