Accreditation is the independent, third-party evaluation of a conformity assessment body (such as
certification body
Professional certification, trade certification, or professional designation, often called simply ''certification'' or ''qualification'', is a designation earned by a person to assure qualification to perform a job or task. Not all certifications ...
, inspection body or laboratory) against recognised standards, conveying formal demonstration of its impartiality and competence to carry out specific conformity assessment tasks (such as certification, inspection and testing).
Accreditation bodies are established in many economies with the primary purpose of ensuring that conformity assessment bodies are subject to oversight by an authoritative body. Accreditation bodies, that have been peer evaluated as competent, sign regional and international arrangements to demonstrate their competence. These accreditation bodies then assess and accredit conformity assessment bodies to the relevant standards.
An authoritative body that performs accreditation is called an '
accreditation body'. The
International Accreditation Forum (IAF) and
International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) provide international recognitions to accreditation bodies. There are many internationally recognized accreditation bodies approved by the IAF and ILAC.
The Emirates International Accreditation Centre (EIAC) is the largest accreditation body in the Middle East, whereas in South Asia the
Pakistan National Accreditation Council (PNAC) and
National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL),
Quality Council of India (QCI) are the largest. In East Asia, the China National Accreditation Board is the largest, while the
United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) is the largest in Europe. The
National Association of Testing Authorities (NATA) and the
Joint Accreditation System of Australia and New Zealand (JAS-ANZ) being the largest in the Oceania region, with the
South African National Accreditation System being the largest in Africa.
For most of the accreditation schemes,
international standard
An international standard is a technical standard developed by one or more international standards organizations. International standards are available for consideration and use worldwide. The most prominent such organization is the International O ...
s issued by the
International Organization for Standardization
The International Organization for Standardization (ISO ; ; ) is an independent, non-governmental, international standard development organization composed of representatives from the national standards organizations of member countries.
M ...
(ISO) are used.
Fields involved
Accreditation processes are used in a wide variety of fields:
*
Accredited investor
*
Accredited in Public Relations
*
Accredited registrar
* Construction
*
Diplomatic accreditation
*
Educational accreditation
Educational accreditation is a quality assurance process under which services and operations of educational institutions or programs are evaluated and verified by an external body to determine whether applicable and recognized standards are me ...
**
Higher education accreditation
Higher education accreditation is a type of quality assurance and educational accreditation process under which services and operations of tertiary educational institutions or programs are evaluated to determine if applicable standards are met. I ...
***
ACGME (USA)
***
List of recognized higher education accreditation organizations
***
****
Accreditation mill
****
List of unaccredited institutions of higher learning
**
Pre-tertiary education accreditation
Pre-tertiary-education accreditation is a type of quality assurance process used in the United States under which services and operations of pre-tertiary schools and educational institutions or programs are evaluated by an external body to de ...
*
Email sender accreditation {{Short description, Third-party email sender verification
Sender accreditation is a third-party process of verifying email senders and requiring them to adhere to certain accredited usage guidelines in exchange for being listed in a trusted listing ...
* Food safety
**
Global Food Safety Initiative
The Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) is a private organization that works as a "coalition of action" from the Consumer Goods Forum (CGF) and brings together retailers and brand owners (manufacturers) from across the CGF membership. The GFSI ...
*Health & Safety Compliance (UK)
* Healthcare
**American Association for Accreditation of Ambulatory Surgery Facilities
**
Accreditation Commission for Health Care The Accreditation Commission for Health Care (ACHC) is a United States-based non-profit health care accrediting organization. It represents an alternative to the Joint Commission and CHAP, The Community Health Accreditation Program.
ACHC was esta ...
**
Electronic Healthcare Network Accreditation Commission
** Emirates International Accreditation Centre (EIAC)
**
International healthcare accreditation
Due to the near-universal desire for safe, effective, and high quality healthcare, there is a growing interest in international healthcare accreditation. Providing healthcare, especially of an adequate standard, is a complex and challenging proc ...
**
Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities
The Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF) is an international, non-profit organization founded in 1966 with the assistance of Mary E. Switzer, then U.S. Social and Rehabilitation Services commissioner. For some institutio ...
**
Hospital accreditation
**
Joint Commission (USA)
**
United Kingdom Accreditation Forum
*
Information assurance
Information assurance (IA) is the practice of assuring information and managing risks related to the use, processing, storage, and data transmission, transmission of information. Information assurance includes protection of the data integrity, inte ...
*
Personal trainer accreditation
*
Professional certification
Professional certification, trade certification, or professional designation, often called simply ''certification'' or ''qualification'', is a designation earned by a person to assure qualification to perform a job or task. Not all certifications ...
*
Systems engineering
Systems engineering is an interdisciplinary field of engineering and engineering management that focuses on how to design, integrate, and manage complex systems over their Enterprise life cycle, life cycles. At its core, systems engineering uti ...
*
Translating and
interpreting
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National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters (Australia)
* Sustainability
** Sustainable
Forest management such as the
Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)
**
Sustainable fishing such as the
Marine Stewardship Council (MSC)
** Sustainable
aquaculture such as the
Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC)
**
Sustainable tourism
Sustainable tourism is a concept that covers the complete tourism experience, including concern for Impacts of tourism, economic, social, and environmental issues as well as attention to improving tourists' experiences and addressing the needs o ...
such as the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC)
Accreditation standards
Many accreditation bodies, such as the UKAS, EIAC, EGAC, PNAC, IAS, NABCB operate according to processes developed by the ISO as specified in
ISO/IEC 17011.
Accredited entities in specific sectors must provide evidence to the accreditation body that they conform to other standards in the same series:
*
ISO/IEC 17020: "General criteria for the operation of various types of bodies performing inspection" (2012)
*
ISO/IEC 17021-1: "Conformity assessment. Requirements for bodies providing audit and certification of management systems" (2015)
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ISO/IEC 17024: "Conformity Assessment. General requirements for bodies operating certification of persons" (2012)
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ISO/IEC 17025: "General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories" (2017)
See also
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Authentication
Authentication (from ''authentikos'', "real, genuine", from αὐθέντης ''authentes'', "author") is the act of proving an Logical assertion, assertion, such as the Digital identity, identity of a computer system user. In contrast with iden ...
*
Certification
*
Certification and accreditation
*
Homologation
Homologation (Greek language, Greek ''homologeo'', ὁμολογέω, "to agree") is the granting of approval by an official authority. This may be a court of law, a government department, or an academic or professional body, any of which would n ...
*
Quality assurance
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Standards organization
A standards organization, standards body, standards developing organization (SDO), or standards setting organization (SSO) is an organization whose primary function is developing, coordinating, promulgating, revising, amending, reissuing, interpr ...
*
Verification and validation
Verification and validation (also abbreviated as V&V) are independent procedures that are used together for checking that a product, service, or system meets requirements and specification (technical standard), specifications and that it fulf ...
;International agencies
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International Accreditation Forum (IAF)
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International Certification Accreditation Council (ICAC)
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International Council on Educational Credential Evaluation (ICECE)
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International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC)
;National agencies
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Department of Defence Information Assurance Certification and Accreditation Process
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Deutsches Institut für Bautechnik
References
External links
International Organization for Standardization
{{Authority control
Quality assurance