Accreditation services from the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Japan sign a new co-operative Agreement.
On the 8 November 2006, the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS), the Dutch Council for Accreditation (RvA) and Japanese Accreditation Body (JAB) signed a unique co-operative Agreement. The purpose of the Agreement is to facilitate the joint assessment of certification bodies that request such an approach because they hold accreditation with all three accreditation services.
The signing of this Agreement is the culmination of several months of close co-operation between UKAS, RvA and JAB and was prompted by a mutual wish to work together under the principles of the Cross Frontier Guidance (IAF GD 3:2003) issued by the International Accreditation Forum (IAF).
The first joint assessment of a mutually accredited certification body has already taken place and was considered by all parties to be a great success with positive feedback from the certification body. A harmonised approach to the assessment was discussed and agreed in advance of the visit and this utilised the resource and technical expertise of all three parties to serve the needs of the certification body for a fully co-operative and integrated assessment.
It is expected that this Agreement will pave the way for further joint assessments in a way that promotes international co-operation and effective and robust accreditation under the principles of the IAF Cross Frontier Guidance. It is one of a number of ways in which UKAS is working in partnership with its customers to develop smarter accreditation.