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 Accreditation is the independent, third-party evaluation of a conformity assessment body (such as certification body, inspection body or laboratory) against recognised standards, conveying formal demonstration of its impartiality and competence to ...

'. 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 National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) provides accreditation services to Conformity Assessment Bodies (Laboratories) in India. NABL Schemes include Accreditation (Recognition) of Technical competence of tes ...

(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 The National Association of Testing Authorities (NATA) is the recognised national accreditation authority for analytical laboratories and testing service providers in Australia. It is an independent, not-for-profit organisation, governed by a boar ...

(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 The South African National Accreditation System (SANAS) is the official laboratory accreditation body for South Africa. Founded in 1996, SANAS is headquartered in Pretoria, South Africa. SANAS accreditation certificates are a formal recognition ...

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 The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) is the body responsible for accrediting all graduate medical training programs —internships, residencies, and fellowships (subspecialty programs) — for physicians in the United ...

(USA) ***

List of recognized higher education accreditation organizations This is a list of recognized higher education related accreditation organizations. The list includes agencies and organizations that play a role in higher education accreditation and are recognized by applicable governmental authorities. Internat ...

***

List of unrecognized higher education accreditation organizations This is a list of unrecognized higher education accreditation organizations, as identified by the organizations themselves, government authorities in their respective countries, or other independent authorities. This article includes entities tha ...

****

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 The United Kingdom Accreditering Forum (UKAF), founded in June 1998 by a group of leading healthcare accreditation organisations, is a London-based network of hospital accreditation, healthcare accreditation organisations formed with the intention ...

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 The National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters Ltd (known as NAATI) is the national standards and certifying body for translators and interpreters in Australia. NAATI's mission, as outlined in the NAATI Constitution, is to ...

(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)

References

External links

International Organization for Standardization
{{Authority control Quality assurance

Fields involved

Accreditation standards

See also

References

External links