What is Accreditation?

Accreditation is a certificate associated with a conformity assessment body, issued as a third party by an accreditation body (in Slovenia, Slovenian accreditation) and recognizes the ability of an accredited body (eg laboratory, control or certification body) to perform a specific task. Evaluation work. Agreement. Accreditation is a professional, impartial and independent process by which national accreditation services formally certify a certifying body’s ability to undertake certain conformity assessment tasks. Certification is one of the key pillars of each country’s technological quality infrastructure, improving the quality of products and services, helping the economy achieve global competitiveness and facilitating international trade.

National Accreditation System

The following organizations and natural persons may be accredited within the framework of the National Accreditation System (EN ISO / IEC 17011) – taking into account the legislation on accreditation, European and international standards published as national standards:

a) Testing laboratory,

b) Sampling organization,

c) Calibration laboratory,

d) Organization organizing the proficiency test,

e) Product certification body,

f) Organization certifying management systems,

g) Personal certification body,

h) An inspection body other than the public authorities,

i) Reference substance production organization,

j) Body or natural person certifying the environmental management and certification system,

K) Data protection certification body.

IACA involves the National Data Protection and Freedom of Information Authority as a competent authority in the accreditation procedure of the data protection certification body.

Accreditation is voluntary and open to all organizations and individuals who carry out their activities impartially and professionally and who meet the training requirements

Who needs accreditation?

If you have products that you intend to sell domestically or internationally, you must determine the applicable safety standards, rules and regulations that apply to those products. International customers expect evidence that their products meet safety and quality expectations. The Conformity Assessment Body (CAB) provides this evidence by testing/certifying the product. CAB issues certificates confirming that products meet the standards expected by customers. But… can you trust the information provided by the CAB? Do you know if these CABs are competent enough to conduct such an assessment? Importers, authorities and end users should trust the information provided by CAB. So someone has to evaluate whether CAB is truly competent. In USA, IACA will evaluate the CBO’s abilities. In the accreditation process, evaluators evaluate whether the CAB is reliable, competent, and impartial and meets the required standards. If so, the CAB is accredited