A2LA Achieves International Signatory Status for Product Certification

The American Association for Laboratory Accreditation (A2LA) has been accepted as a member of the International Accreditation Forum (IAF) Multilateral Recognition Arrangement (MLA) for the Main Scope: ISO/IEC Guide 65, Sub-scope: Product Certification.

In March of 2010, A2LA was peer evaluated by the regional group, the Inter-American Accreditation Cooperation (IAAC), to expand its scope of recognition to include accreditation of product certification bodies. In August of 2010, IAAC announced that A2LA had become a signatory to the IAAC MLA for Product Certification Bodies. Recently, IAAC was accepted by the IAF as a regional group for the IAF MLA to include product certification, which resulted in A2LA achieving the IAF MLA signatory status.

The MLA contributes to the freedom of world trade by eliminating technical barriers to trade. IAF works to find the most effective way of achieving a single system that will allow companies with an accredited conformity assessment certificate in one part of the world, to have that certificate recognized elsewhere in the world. The objective of the MLA is to cover all accreditation bodies in all countries in the world, thus eliminating the need for suppliers of products or services to be certified in each country where they sell their products or services. “Certified once - accepted everywhere.”

The requirements for a product certification body assessment are stated in ISO/IEC Guide 65:1996 General requirements for bodies operating product certification systems and the IAF GD-5 Guidance on the Application of ISO/IEC Guide 65:1996 and A2LA specific program requirements.

These accreditations assure users of the competence and impartiality of the body accredited. A2LA accredits product certification bodies that issue certificates attesting that an organization's quality management system and competence to certify products comply with a specified standard (called conformity assessment).