International and European Recognition Agreements

This page describes how UKAS interacts with other national accreditation bodies to ensure that the certificates and reports of UKAS accredited organisations are widely accepted. Details are given of the agreements that UKAS has: within Europe through European cooperation for Accreditation (EA); internationally through International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) and International Accreditation Forum (IAF).

Agreements or Arrangements with accreditation bodies in other countries

It is UKAS policy to negotiate agreements with other national accreditation bodies through the international and regional accreditation networks. These agreements recognise the equivalence of the accreditation granted in the countries concerned and are referred to as Multilateral Agreements or Arrangements. Each signatory promises to:

accept the other Schemes operated by other signatories as equivalent to their own Scheme(s); recognise on an equal basis with its own the certificates and/or reports from the organisations accredited by the Signatories under their Schemes.

The result of this recognition is that parties such as purchasers, regulators and insurers who might have insisted on results accredited by their own national accreditation system are influenced to accept results from other accredited sources. This facilitates the international acceptance of goods traded across borders and supports intergovernmental trade agreements. It also enables accredited bodies to accept results from bodies accredited by any signatory member. For example when evidence of competence and traceability of calibration or testing is required by an accreditation body,
the laboratory may rely on accredited certificates from laboratories accredited by any of the signatories.

The Agreements have been reached as a result of a formal, detailed evaluation of each of the accreditation body's policies and procedures and the criteria used, and by observation of assessment and surveillance visits. These evaluations are performed by a team of experts in the relevant area of accreditation.

Mutual recognition agreements between countries that are not members of the EA and the EA MLA also operate on a bilateral basis. Each country is required to sign a contract of cooperation with EA and is evaluated in the manner as is the EA signatories.

EA MLA Signatories - Testing

MLA between EA & NON-EA bodies - Testing

EA MLA Signatories - Calibration

MLA between EA & NON - EA bodies - Calibration

EA MLA Signatories - Certification

MLA between EA & NON - EA bodies - Certification

EA MLA Signatories - Inspection

MLA between EA & NON - EA bodies - Inspection

ILAC International Arrangement

Reference by UKAS accredited laboratories to participation in the ILAC Arrangement

Laboratories that are accredited by an Accreditation Body which is a signatory of the ILAC Mutual Recognition Arrangement or a regional Multilateral Recognition agreement in the field of testing or calibration may state this on certificates and reports in the appropriate language.

Guidance on how this may be stated is given in ILAC Guidance document, G 15:2001. The suggested wording for UKAS laboratories is: The United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) is one of the signatories to the International Laboratory Accreditation Co-operation (ILAC) Arrangement for the mutual recognition of [test reports] [calibration certificates].

IAF - Multilateral Recognition Arrangements for certification

Reference by UKAS accredited certification bodies to participation in the IAF MLA

As a signatory to the IAF MLA, UKAS is permitted by IAF to authorise the certification bodies it accredits to include reference to UKAS's membership of the IAF MLA along with the UKAS accreditation mark for quality management systems certification.

The reference must take the form of one or other of the following statements, and may only be used in conjunction with the UKAS accreditation mark where the certification body is allowed to use this according to the conditions for the use of the UKAS marks:

Either - Accredited by Member of the International Accreditation Forum Multilateral Recognition Arrangement for Quality Management Systems

Or - Accredited by Member of the IAF MLA for QMS.