Accreditation:

A global tool to support Public Policy

www.publicsectorassurance.org
Accreditation: A global tool to support Public Policy
Standards, accreditation and conformity assessment are market-based tools that can
be used by government policy makers to deliver better regulation, environmental
protection, public safety, fraud prevention, fair markets and public trust. These tools
are not as widely known and understood, or used, as they should be. However, there
are many instances around the world where the public sector has embraced
accredited conformity assessment as a means of delivering public policy objectives.
This brochure therefore contains an overview for policy makers, regulators and public
sector officials explaining why and how these tools could be used in their areas of
activity, using case studies which demonstrate how:

l Government can help improve the By showcasing the policy areas where conformity
performance of business by encouraging the assessment is used, such as economic
use of conformity assessment development, public sector, healthcare and
environmental protection, the intention is to
l Government can rely on accreditation bodies provide insight so that accredited conformity
to minimise risks and promote trade assessment can serve as a tool to support public
policy.
l Accredited conformity assessment can help
government deliver and enforce its policies For further information, a full range of case
studies, independent research papers, and
l Private sector uses accreditation in order to supporting information can be accessed online at
deliver confidence in the marketplace www.publicsectorassurance.org, a website that
has been developed specifically to provide public
l Accredited conformity assessment helps sector organisations with greater insight into the
regulators implement policies benefits of using accredited conformity
assessment services.
l Government can improve its own performance
by using conformity assessment in its own
departments.
What is the relationship between standards and accreditation?
Standards are an agreed way of doing something; they are documents that capture
current good practice through trusted and transparent processes involving all
relevant stakeholders in the drafting process.

Accreditation determines the technical competence These arrangements are managed by IAF, in the
and integrity of organisations offering conformity fields covering accreditation of certification bodies
assessment services such as testing, certification, and validation/verification bodies, and ILAC, in the
inspection, calibration and validation/verification areas of laboratory and inspection body
based on international standards. Accreditation can accreditation. This system helps to ensure work
thus be used to verify effective compliance with a carried out by accreditation bodies is consistent
standard. Accreditation is an impartial and objective across the globe, and maintains international
process carried out by third parties; it offers the standards from one accreditation body to others. As
least duplicative, the most transparent and the most a result, products and services tested, inspected or
widely accepted route for the provision of credible certified once under the IAF and ILAC umbrella can
and trustworthy conformity assessment results. be accepted everywhere with equal confidence.

Accreditation bodies are established in most

countries to ensure that conformity assessment
bodies are subject to oversight by a competent
body. Internationally recognised accreditation
bodies, which have been evaluated by peers as
competent, sign international arrangements that
enhance the acceptance of products and services
across borders, thereby creating a global
infrastructure to support trade regulatory approval
processes, and confidence in the marketplace.
How can accreditation support public policy?
Accreditation can be used to support government policy in different ways. For example,
markets can ‘self-regulate’ through businesses voluntarily agreeing to meet set standards.
This can be applied where there is a need to reassure markets on the conduct of business
while minimising risks, but where there is no desire by government for regulatory
intervention. For example, an industry or profession might choose to develop and adopt
its own code of practice promoting ethical conduct. Government can encourage the use
of standards to deliver policy, or indeed may wish to sponsor the creation of a standard
for a particular purpose. Government might also work with an industry to develop a
standard or code of practice or a means of determining compliance that involves other
parties in setting standards and authorising the activity. Accredited conformity
assessment provides this assurance of compliance with such standards.

Case Study – Forensic Science to meet the Case Study – Hong Kong Housing Authority
needs of the criminal justice system specifies the use of certified products

l The UK Home Office approved Codes of Practice l The Hong Kong Housing Authority builds an
and Conduct requires forensic science providers average of 20,000 flats per year for the public
submitting evidence to be carried out by sector of Hong Kong.
‘competent’ organisations.
l The quality of building materials and components
l The Codes of Practice and Conduct builds on ISO/ is a prime concern to the Housing Authority and
IEC 17025, the internationally accepted laboratory the industry since rework of any non-complying
testing standard with additional focus on building products would have time & cost
validation, contamination control and information implications to the housing projects.
security.
l The Housing Authority specifies the requirement to
l Public and private laboratories implement the use certified products for 11 major building
Code of Practice to ensure they comply. materials in its construction projects.
l Accreditation of these laboratories provides l Accredited Product certification provides a reliable
confidence to the regulator and the criminal means for assuring production quality throughout
justice system. the whole production process from incoming raw
materials, production, inspection, sample selection
and testing.

Alternatively, businesses that demonstrate saving taxpayers money. This ‘earned recognition’
compliance with standards through accreditation can achieve the same or better outcomes as
may earn ‘recognition’ from regulators, who trust regulation, but on a voluntary basis. In this way, the
them to comply with their legal obligations. This cost of regulation is reduced for both the
enables regulators to reduce oversight and government and the regulated business.
inspection visits,
 Case Study – Supporting sustainable Case Study – Food safety in Victoria,
animal health in Africa Australia

l The Botswana Vaccine Institute (BVI) is a public l The PrimeSafe scheme in the Australian state of
company established through the technical Victoria works across all areas of the meat, poultry
cooperation between MERIAL, a leader in the and seafood supply chain.
research, manufacture and supply of livestock
l Audit frequency for licensees depends on the level
vaccines, and the government.
of risk inherent in the product processed at the
l Accredited testing and certification ensures the facility, with a greater assessed risk requiring more
quality of the vaccines that they manufacture, audits.
generates internal efficiencies, reduces waste and
l The scheme recognises the benefit of accredited
saves money.
certification, as licensees subject to quarterly audit
l It also improves market access and the eligibility for schedules that have incorporated an accredited
new tenders, which is demonstrated by year-on- food safety-based quality assurance system (e.g.
year growth. ISO 9001 or ISO 22000) into their operations can
have their audit frequency adjusted to a biannual
l Two thirds of all vaccines produced at BVI are
audit schedule, subject to PrimeSafe approval.
exported annually to over 15 countries in Africa
and the Middle East.

The accreditation system can also support public standards can be referenced in regulation. In others,
policy, where government sets the top-level the market itself may decide to develop standards
regulatory requirements and leaves the market to for their own guidance on the technical state of the
define how these general principles should be met in art and thus assist with compliance.
terms of technical solutions. In some cases, the use of

Case Study – The New Approach in the Gulf Coast Countries (GCC) operate single
European Union Market Regulatory System

l The European “New Approach” to technical l GCC Member states (United Arab Emirates ,
harmonization involves over 4,000 standards that Kingdom of Bahrain, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,
are used to support regulation. Sultanate of Oman, State of Qatar and the State of
Kuwait) and the Republic of Yemen operate a
l Under the New Approach, accreditation is used to
single regulatory system to control products in the
ensure the competence of those organisations that
GCC market.
check compliance with the standards
(‘Notified Bodies’). l The System is comprised of two sets of Technical
Regulations (TR) – Horizontal Regulations applied
l In line with the World Trade Organization’s
to all products wishing to access the GCC Single
Technical Barriers to Trade Agreement (WTO TBT
market, and Vertical Regulations each addressing
Agreement), compliance with regulation is
a Category of Products such as Toys and low
mandatory and compliance with standards
voltage devices.
remains voluntary.
l Accreditation is an essential tool for the
implementation of this regulatory system as it is
used in all regulations to assure the competence of
notified bodies.
What benefit does accreditation provide?
Accredited conformity assessment bodies can support, amongst others, the following
functions:
l Verification of conformity with standards and regulations
l Demonstration of competence
l Assessment of risk and its management
l Enforcement of safety regulations such as building codes
l Safety of food and drinking water
l Environmental protection
l Oversight of health and social care services
l Control of commerce and trade
l Trade facilitation
l Efficient delivery of public services
l Conduct of forensic investigations
l Investigation of product or process failures
l Aid in achieving the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Case Study – Underpinning the ENERGY Case Study – Accreditation ensures quality
STAR US energy efficiency programme of steel imports into India

l ENERGY STAR is a U.S. Environmental Protection l The Indian Directorate General of Foreign Trade
Agency (EPA) voluntary program that promotes relaxes its import rules for steel and steel products
energy efficiency. and relies on the ILAC and IAF arrangements to
maintain quality assurance.
l The ENERGY STAR programme includes
requirements that third-party laboratories l Steel imports are used to support projects in
providing test data are accredited by signatories sectors such as infrastructure, petroleum, nuclear
to the ILAC MRA. reactors and defence without the need for
additional local certification or inspection.
l No need for the EPA to develop its own set of
agency-specific rules or to create duplicative l Quality certification should be either from a
laboratory requirements, thereby limiting costs to product certification body (ISO/IEC 17065)
the agency. accredited by an IAF MLA signatory, or from an
inspection body accredited in accordance with
l The ILAC MRA provides assurance to consumers
ISO/IEC 17020 by an ILAC MRA Signatory.
that products carrying the ENERGY STAR label
meet strict programme requirements. l Accredited conformity assessment provides
confidence to the local developer and the
regulator.
The benefits of accreditation
l Accreditation offers an alternative to regulation, or can support regulation and
enable its simplification. It is already being used to support policy delivery
across a wide range of government and regulatory activities. Accredited
conformity assessment can be used to address a wide range of regulatory
requirements – it is a flexible tool that can be applied to all sectors and to any
kind of assessment, approval, validations or evaluation process.

l Accreditation can reduce costs for government by relying on the private sector.
Accredited conformity assessment is market driven and funded by fees from
these organisations, thereby removing the need for government to operate and
fund its own laboratories and inspectorates.

l Accreditation can support risk-based regulation by providing information to

help target government intervention where it is most needed.

l Through openness and independence, standards and accreditation have the

necessary legitimacy and degree of market acceptance to be used as tools for
policy delivery. Through international agreements on mutual recognition of
accreditation, they are becoming more widely used as tools for regulators
throughout the world.
Further information
Visit www.publicsectorassurance.org to access examples of how accredited
conformity assessment is used around the world by central government, local
government and regulators to deliver positive benefit.

Case studies to demonstrate the value of accredited conformity assessment

for businesses can be found on www.business-benefits.org.

About ILAC About IAF

ILAC is the international authority on laboratory, IAF is a global association of accreditation bodies,
inspection body, proficiency testing provider, conformity assessment body associations and other
reference material producer and biobank organizations involved in conformity assessment in
accreditation, with a membership consisting of fields including validation/verification and the
accreditation bodies and affiliated organisations certification of management systems, products,
throughout the world. The website www.ilac.org processes, services and persons.
provides a range of information on these
accreditation activities, as well as the location of its IAF promotes the worldwide acceptance of
members worldwide. certificates of conformity and validation/verification
statements issued by conformity assessment bodies
ILAC promotes the increased use and acceptance, accredited by IAF MLA signatories, and seeks to
by industry as well as by government, of the results add value for all stakeholders through its activities
from accredited laboratories, inspection bodies, and programs.
proficiency testing providers and reference material
producers including results from accredited
organisations in other countries. ILAC liaises with
many international bodies and stakeholders to
achieve shared objectives.
 Further information on the ILAC Mutual Further information on the IAF Multilateral
Recognition Arrangement (MRA) and a list Recognition Arrangement (MLA) and a list
of Signatories is available on the ILAC of Signatories is available on the IAF
website https://ilac.org/signatory-search/ website https://iaf.nu/en/recognised-abs/

The ILAC Secretariat The IAF Secretariat

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IAF/ILAC B9:09/2023