The annual IAF Multilateral Agreement (MLA) report provides a timely reminder of the strength and value of the MLA and of accreditation itself supporting conformity assessment.
The most significant benefit of the IAF MLA and accredited conformity assessment – smoothing the acceptance of goods and services across national borders.
As IAF states, ‘Accreditation provides an assurance to government, business and the consumer that organisations providing certification to a standard have the required competence and impartiality to do so as evidenced by fulfillment of international standards and requirements.’ Simplistically, accreditation bodies (ABs) are checking assurance bodies – like IIOA members – to ensure they are carrying out their work competently – the checkers are checked.
In turn, ‘the purpose of the IAF MLA is to provide users in countries with ABs that are IAF MLA signatories with the assurance that equivalent certification bodies (CBs) and validation/verification Bodies (VVBs) in other economies operate to the same standards as those in their own economies for certificates and statements in the fields of:
- Management Systems Certification
- Product Certification (including processes and services)
- Certification of Persons
- Validation and Verification.’
This means that accreditations granted by IAF MLA AB signatories are recognised worldwide based on their equivalent accreditation programmes. Having been evaluated by peers as competent to accredit in the scopes covered, the end result is that the mutual recognition by the MLA signatories smooths the passage of goods and services internationally, in turn reducing costs and adding value to industry and consumers.
The MLA operates by each accreditation body that is a signatory to the IAF MLA committing to:
- Maintaining conformity with the current version of ISO/IEC 17011 Conformity assessment – General requirements for bodies providing assessment and accreditation of conformity assessment bodies and supplementary requirements documents
- Recognising the competence and impartiality of accreditations of conformity assessment bodies by all other signatories of the MLA
- Regular, stringent evaluation of their operations by a peer evaluation team which is charged to ensure that the applicant complies fully with the above both international standards and IAF requirements.
To strengthen the MLA, IAF encourages its accreditation body and Regional Accreditation Group members to join the MLA as soon as they have passed a rigorous evaluation process to ensure that their accreditation programs are of a world standard.
As IAF summarises, ‘The MLA contributes to the facilitation of world trade by eliminating technical barriers. IAF works to find the most effective way of achieving a single system to meet the objective of “Accredited once, accepted everywhere”.’
