Accreditation and stakeholder engagement: Building a shared framework for trust and collaboration

Each year on 14 October, World Standards Day celebrates the collaborative effort of thousands of experts around the world who develop the international standards that help make life safer, more reliable and more efficient. The 2025 theme, “Shared vision for a better world: Partnerships for the Goals,” recognises the importance of working together to support innovation, sustainable development and market access.

Standards are developed through a multi-stakeholder process, enabling government, industry and civil society collaboration. Accreditation of conformity assessment against these international standards increases trust that they are being consistently met. As the UK’s National Accreditation Body, UKAS plays a vital role in ensuring that this trust extends across borders and the economy. This World Standards Day is an opportunity to reflect on the meaningful engagement with a diverse community of stakeholders that enables UKAS to fulfil this function effectively.

Accreditation as an enabler of trust

Accreditation underpins confidence in testing, inspection, certification and verification services by assessing that conformity assessment bodies meet internationally agreed standards of competence and integrity. Whether assessing product safety, verifying carbon emissions or certifying management systems, UKAS accreditation provides the confidence that results are reliable and comparable, no matter where they are produced.

UKAS’s signatory status to the regional and global agreements on accreditation ensures that certificates and reports issued by UKAS-accredited bodies are recognised worldwide (subject to national regulations). This helps to reduce technical barriers to trade and supports the integration of global supply chains. UKAS’s international recognition, gained through regular peer evaluations, underpins the UK’s global influence by placing it at the heart of collaboration in pursuit of trade facilitation, environment protection and economic growth.

The role of stakeholder engagement

The delivery of the national accreditation service relies on strong relationships across government, industry and civil society to ensure UKAS and its activities remain relevant, credible and responsive.

UKAS works closely with government to support public policy priorities wherever appropriate, for example in areas such as product safety, sustainability initiatives and international trade. Through these partnerships, accreditation helps government deliver proportionate, risk-based regulatory interventions whilst supporting business activity and enabling consumer confidence.

UKAS convenes its stakeholders, across the testing, inspection and certification sector, government and regulators, industry and professional bodies, on a regular and structured basis. This engagement informs UKAS’s strategic direction, ensuring its activities are aligned, in the public interest, to the needs of the market, international best practice. This stakeholder engagement allows UKAS to remain responsive to technological developments, for example, adapting its services to support the needs of modern industry.

Accreditation, alongside standards and measurement, is also an integral part of the UK’s National Quality Infrastructure. UKAS collaborates with its NQI partners, primarily the British Standards Institution and the National Physical Laboratory, as part of a coherent system that promotes quality, safety and innovation across the market.

The role of UKAS’s members

UKAS’s guarantor members represent a cross-section of the UK’s economic and regulatory landscape, including government departments, trade and professional bodies and consumer representatives. Their role is to act as governance partners, ensuring that UKAS operates in the public interest and that its services reflect the needs of those who rely on accreditation. UKAS’s members provide valuable insight, helping UKAS anticipate new areas of assurance demand and maintain its impartiality and accountability as the UK’s National Accreditation Body.

Through this structure, representative feedback is not only heard but actively shapes the direction of accreditation services in the UK.

Partnerships beyond the UK

As part of a global network of accreditation bodies, UKAS represents the UK’s interests in international forums. Through these platforms, UKAS advances the UK’s ‘soft power’, promoting international cooperation on accreditation policy and helping ensure that international standards are applied consistently across borders

Regular peer evaluations, in which experts from other accreditation bodies review the effectiveness of UKAS’s systems, policies and services, provide independent assurance that UKAS is itself meeting the expected standards, in line with international best practice. This process reinforces international confidence in UKAS’s competence and impartiality.

Looking ahead, UKAS is also engaged in emerging initiatives such as the AI Quality Infrastructure (AIQI) Consortium, which brings together global partners to develop trusted frameworks for artificial intelligence assurance and other new technologies. Collaborative efforts such as this demonstrate the agility and forward-looking approach needed to ensure accreditation remains relevant in a rapidly evolving world.

Accreditation at the heart of a shared vision

Standards and accreditation together provide a trusted framework that enables collaboration, innovation and confidence. UKAS’s partnerships with government, industry and civil society enable the delivery of an impartial, responsive and effective national accreditation service, supporting trust in the quality and safety of goods and services at home and abroad.

This World Standards Day celebrates the partnerships that underpin market frameworks, supporting consumer safety and enhancing business innovations, trade and scalability. UKAS will remain steadfast in its commitment to working with stakeholders across the market such that accreditation can continue to deliver benefits to society as a whole.