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 {{More citations needed, date=January 2021
The International Accreditation Forum, Inc. (IAF) is the worldwide association of Conformance testing, conformity assessment accreditation bodies and other bodies interested in conformity assessment in fie ...
(IAF) and
International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation
The International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation or ILAC started as a conference in 1977 to develop international cooperation for facilitating trade by promoting the acceptance of accredited test and calibration results. In 1996, ILAC becam ...
(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
The Pakistan National Accreditation Council (PNAC; ) is a department subordinate to the Ministry of Science and Technology of the Government of Pakistan.
Formation and Objective
The Pakistan National Accreditation Council was formed in the year 1 ...
(PNAC) and
National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL),
Quality Council of India
The Quality Council of India (QCI) was set up as a public private partnership model on the model existing in Netherlands at the time, where although the National Accreditation Body (NAB) was not owned by the government, the government supported i ...
(QCI) are the largest. In East Asia, the China National Accreditation Board is the largest, while the
United Kingdom Accreditation Service
The United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) is the sole national Accredited registrar, accreditation body recognised by the Government of the United Kingdom, British government to assess the competence of organisations that provide certific ...
(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
An accredited or sophisticated investor is an investor with a special status under financial regulation laws. The definition of an accredited investor (if any), and the consequences of being classified as such, vary between countries. Generally, ac ...
*
Accredited in Public Relations
*
Accredited registrar
An accredited registrar, also called an accredited certification body (CB), is an organization accredited by a recognized accrediting body for its competence to audit and issue certification confirming that an organization meets the requirements of ...
* Construction
*
Diplomatic accreditation
A letter of credence (, ) is a formal Diplomatic correspondence, diplomatic letter that designates a diplomat as ambassador to another sovereign state. Commonly known as diplomatic credentials, the letter is addressed from one head of state to an ...
*
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)
***
***
****
Accreditation mill
An accreditation mill is an organization that purports to award educational accreditation to higher education institutions without having government authority or recognition from mainstream academia to operate as an accreditor. Implicit in the ter ...
****
List of unaccredited institutions of higher learning
This is a list of colleges, seminaries, and universities that do not have educational accreditation. In many countries, accreditation is defined as a governmental designation.
Degrees or other qualifications from unaccredited institutions ma ...
**
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
Hospital accreditation has been defined as “A self-assessment and external peer assessment process used by health care organizations to accurately assess their level of performance in relation to established standards and to implement ways to co ...
**
Joint Commission
The Joint Commission is a United States-based nonprofit tax-exempt 501(c) organization that accredits more than 22,000 US health care organizations and programs. The international branch accredits medical services from around the world.
A majori ...
(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
Interpreting is translation from a spoken or signed language into another language, usually in real time to facilitate live communication. It is distinguished from the translation of a written text, which can be more deliberative and make use o ...
**
National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters (Australia)
* Sustainability
** Sustainable
Forest management
Forest management is a branch of forestry concerned with overall administrative, legal, economic, and social aspects, as well as scientific and technical aspects, such as silviculture, forest protection, and forest regulation. This includes man ...
such as the
Forest Stewardship Council
The Forest Stewardship Council GmbH (FSC) is an international non-profit, multistakeholder organization established in 1993 that promotes responsible management of the world's forests via timber certification. This organization uses a market-b ...
(FSC)
**
Sustainable fishing
A conventional idea of a sustainable fishery is that it is one that is harvested at a sustainable rate, where the fish population does not decline over time because of fishing practices. Sustainability in fisheries combines theoretical disciplines, ...
such as the
Marine Stewardship Council
The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) is a non-profit organisation which aims to set standards for sustainable fishing. Fisheries that wish to demonstrate they are well-managed and sustainable compared to the MSC's standards are assessed by a tea ...
(MSC)
** Sustainable
aquaculture
Aquaculture (less commonly spelled aquiculture), also known as aquafarming, is the controlled cultivation ("farming") of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, mollusks, algae and other organisms of value such as aquatic plants (e.g. Nelu ...
such as the
Aquaculture Stewardship Council
The Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) is an independent non-profit organisation and labelling organization that establishes protocol on farmed seafood while ensuring sustainable aquaculture. The ASC provides producers with a certification of ...
(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)
*
ISO/IEC 17024: "Conformity Assessment. General requirements for bodies operating certification of persons" (2012)
*
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 ...
: "General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories" (2017)
See also
*
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 is part of testing, inspection and certification and the provision by an independent body of written assurance (a certificate) that the product, service or system in question meets specific requirements. It is the formal attestatio ...
*
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
Quality assurance (QA) is the term used in both manufacturing and service industries to describe the systematic efforts taken to assure that the product(s) delivered to customer(s) meet with the contractual and other agreed upon performance, design ...
*
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
*
International Accreditation Forum {{More citations needed, date=January 2021
The International Accreditation Forum, Inc. (IAF) is the worldwide association of Conformance testing, conformity assessment accreditation bodies and other bodies interested in conformity assessment in fie ...
(IAF)
*
International Certification Accreditation Council (ICAC)
*
International Council on Educational Credential Evaluation
The International Council on Educational Credential Evaluation, commonly known as ICECE, is an international NGO closely affiliated both with UNESCO and the Council of Europe. Its main objectives include research related to international higher edu ...
(ICECE)
*
International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation
The International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation or ILAC started as a conference in 1977 to develop international cooperation for facilitating trade by promoting the acceptance of accredited test and calibration results. In 1996, ILAC becam ...
(ILAC)
;National agencies
*
Department of Defence Information Assurance Certification and Accreditation Process
*
Deutsches Institut für Bautechnik
References
External links
International Organization for Standardization
{{Authority control
Quality assurance