World Accreditation Day 2023

Accreditation: Supporting the Future of Global Trade

The global accreditation organizations IAF and ILAC once again come together
on 9 June to celebrate World Accreditation Day. The 2023 theme is
"Accreditation: Supporting the Future of Global Trade" and aims to draw
attention to how accreditation and conformity assessment are adapting to
advances in technology, changes in consumer behaviours and regulatory
environment, new trust mechanisms, and changing business models.

The founding ethos of IAF and ILAC many decades ago was to support global
trade. That ethos has driven and still acts as one of the primary motivators
for the two organisations.

In a constantly changing world, it is remarkable that accreditation supporting

world trade is as relevant for today as it was decades ago and this relevance
only seems to grow stronger. Estimates by the Organisation for Economic Co-
operation and Development (OECD) and the United States Department of
Commerce are that standards and related conformity assessment have an
impact on 80% of the world’s trade.

The Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) estimates that
standards contribute GBR 6.1 billion to exports in the United Kingdom per
year, while independent research carried out by the New Zealand Institute of
Economic Research reported that accreditation delivers a NZD 4.5 billion
premium in exports.

Accreditation and trade are bound together by trust – trust is the essential
component of trading relationships, whether they are conducted within
national borders or with other economies. Economies around the world have
long relied on an integrated system of standards, regulations, metrology and
accredited conformity assessment to create a quality infrastructure. This
integrated system has generated the necessary trust to support trade by
ensuring that consumers, businesses and regulators procuring goods and
services get what they expect.

One of the primary roles accreditation plays in supporting global trade is in

the removal of technical barriers to trade (TBTs). By demonstrating
confidence, quality infrastructures have provided businesses with access to a
wider international marketplace, whilst simultaneously improving the quality
and safety of imports from those economies.

So many of the key factors affecting global trade are exactly the issues to
which accreditation has solutions:

✓ Supply chains are becoming more complex, and there is evidence of

growing regulatory divergence
✓ Geopolitical factors such as armed conflicts and the global pandemic
have impacted the sourcing of raw materials and disrupted established
methods of quality assurance
 ✓ Growing concerns related to cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, data
protection, fraud and product authenticity
✓ Consumer consciousness about sustainability, provenance, health and
ethics is on the rise, forcing brands to improve their understanding and
oversight of their supply network.

Accreditation aids world trade by supporting regulators, business and

consumers in meeting their diverse needs, whether they be technical product
safety, good governance, climate change, energy, fair markets or public
confidence. In turn, this is seen by organizations such as the World Trade
Organization (WTO), the United Nations Industrial Development Organization
(UNIDO) and the OECD who suggest that greater adoption of international
standards in national frameworks, and compliance with them, could promote
regulatory convergence globally.

Adapting to a changing world is a cornerstone of how IAF and ILAC develop

solutions to support global trade. The adoption of new technologies is
increasing at an unseen rate, bringing new threats and governance
challenges. Accredited conformity assessment is already delivering
confidence in the quality assurance of goods and services in many of the areas
where blockchain technology and AI are being applied.

While standards and accreditation have had a positive impact on trade both
within and across borders, there is a need for continued evolution to meet
changing industry requirements and to support future trading systems; IAF
and ILAC will continuously strive to achieve this. In turn, this also plays a key
role in supporting the SDG targets that relate to trade.

Supporting the future of global trade for World Accreditation Day 2023
demonstrates how national and global quality infrastructures are adapting to
advances in technology, changes in consumer behaviours and the regulatory
environment, new trust mechanisms, and changing business models. As vital
today as it was decades ago and will be in the future, accreditation continues
to support world trade for consumers, businesses and governments &
regulators alike.

World Accreditation Day 2023 enables the International Accreditation Forum

(www.iaf.nu), the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation
(www.ilac.org) and their members to highlight how accreditation is
Supporting the Future of Global Trade. IAF and ILAC provide a range of
information to explain accreditation’s role in supporting the Future of global
trade, including further illustrations of its use: Trade–Public Sector Assurance
and Business Benefits
 World Accreditation Day 2022

Accreditation: Sustainability in Economic Growth and the

Environment

The global accreditation organizations IAF and ILAC once again come together
on 9 June to celebrate World Accreditation Day. The 2022 theme is
Accreditation: Sustainability in Economic Growth and the Environment and
aims to draw attention to how accreditation and conformity assessment
provide global solutions for global issues.

The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have provided clear

objectives for the globe to focus on now and in the future.

Two of the core elements of the SDGs are simultaneous economic growth and
environmental performance, linked by a common desire for sustainable
delivery of both objectives. The collaboration of IAF and ILAC illustrates that
seemingly differing focuses can be brought together to achieve positive
action.

Our two accreditation organizations have long worked to support business,

government, consumers, and other groups in accessing accreditation as a
means to deliver enhanced economic and environmental performance. There
has always been a focus on achieving these two things sustainably, but with
heightened awareness, not least through COP 26, the wide range of solutions
that accreditation provides, helps all organisations deliver more.

Whether through environmental protection performance, helping manage

climate change, developing the circular economy or providing tools to
measure performance, accreditation and conformity assessment are
constantly reviewing and evolving to ensure that the right tools are available
to support the SDGs both now and moving forward.

From some of the earliest testing laboratory accreditation activities

supporting environmental regulations, to the more recent accreditation of
certification bodies for ISO 14001, a sector specific standard focused on
environmental performance, and the introduction of standards for validation
and verification, IAF and ILAC are seeking to help organisations measure,
manage and/or report sustainable economic growth and environmental
performance.

As Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) criteria has become an

increasingly popular method for measuring organisational impact and basing
sound investment decisions the accreditation community will continue to
engage with a range of organisations, with different needs and priorities, to
deliver the relevant accreditation and conformity assessment solutions.

The phrase, ‘There is no Planet B’ highlights the ever more pressing need for
simultaneous sustainability in economic growth and the environment.

World Accreditation Day 2022 enables the International Accreditation Forum

(www.iaf.nu), the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation
(www.ilac.org) and their members to highlight how accreditation is delivering
sustainability in economic development and the environment. IAF and ILAC
provide a range of information to explain accreditation’s role in sustainability,
economic growth and environment, including further illustrations of its use:
Economic development – Public Sector Assurance and Environmental
Protection – Public Sector Assurance

World Accreditation Day 2020

Accreditation: Improving food safety

World Accreditation Day 2020 highlights the role of accreditation in

improving food safety.

Accreditation has a crystal-clear objective: it aims to assure businesses, end

users and regulators that a conformity assessment body (CAB), such as a
certification or inspection body, testing, calibration or medical laboratory, has
the required technical competence and operates impartially. This competence
is assessed by accreditation bodies against international standards and
requirements.

Simply applied to food, accreditation helps improve food safety.

Building on World Accreditation Day 2019 which highlighted the role of

accreditation in adding value to supply chains, the 2020 World Accreditation
Day spotlights accreditation’s role in improving food safety.

It does this across the whole of the food supply chain from farm to fork,
through food production, processing and packaging, storage and
transportation, to retail and catering, helping build layers of assurance in the
supply chain.

Accreditation bodies assess CABs in a variety of different key functions,

assessing them against standards which have been developed by the global
community through the International Organization for Standardization (ISO)
and International Electro technical Commission (IEC). These standards cover
functions such as inspection, certification and testing. With inspection bodies,
certification bodies and laboratories accredited to these standards, they have
been independently checked as being able to deliver competent and impartial
inspection, certification and testing services in all parts of local, national and
international food chains.

In April 2019, a Joint Statement issued by the Food and Agriculture

Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the World Health Organisation
(WHO) and the World Trade Organisation (WTO)¹, highlighted the toll on
humans of foodborne diseases. Accreditation aims to help support the
reduction of these incidences through driving up the performance of
organisations in the food supply chain. Accreditation is used across the globe
to help meet this goal: from the use of accredited certification in Australia
through the PrimeSafe scheme for meat and seafood supply; to the European
Union using the accreditation of laboratories to support food security in
Europe; to accredited inspection to help commercial catering establishments
deliver safer food in France.

World Accreditation Day 2020 with Accreditation Improving Food Safety, sets
out to illustrate how in just the one area, food safety, accreditation
contributes to the Sustainable Development Goals, in particular SDG 3 of
Good Health and Well-Being.

World Accreditation Day 2020 comes just two days after the second ever
World Food Safety Day² which aims to highlight the need for safe food.
Through accreditation bodies and subsequently accredited certification
bodies, inspection bodies and laboratories, the conformity assessment
community continuously strives to help deliver safer food.

World Accreditation Day 2020 enables the International Accreditation Forum

(www.iaf.nu), the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation
(www.ilac.org) and their members to highlight how accreditation is improving
food safety. IAF and ILAC provide a range of information to explain
accreditation’s role in improving food safety, including further illustrations of
its use https://publicsectorassurance.org/topic-areas/food-safety-agriculture

Accreditation: Adding Value to Supply Chains

World Accreditation Day 2019 highlights the role of accreditation in

adding value to supply chains.

Supply chains provide a vital role in delivering products and services for
consumers, business and the public sector in a timely, cost-efficient and
quality manner. Supply chains are constantly evolving from complex systems
crossing multiple borders to new and diverse supply chains aimed at ensuring
all stakeholders’ requirements are met, including the need for ensuring
sustainability and responsible supply.

Accreditation and, with it, other quality infrastructure tools such as standards,
metrology and conformity assessment, provide widely accepted tools that
help deliver value to the supply chain. These tools help with trust and
assurance, enabling confidence in both final products and services and the
manner in which they are placed on the market and used.

From the accreditation of laboratories which test safety of toys, the inspection
of manufacturing processes, to the accredited certification of food
manufacturers to food safety standards, accreditation adds value to supply
chains by supporting the wide spectrum of needs of interested parties.

Global supply chains which cross international borders are significant

beneficiaries of the global nature of accreditation. The International
Accreditation Forum (IAF) and the International Laboratory Accreditation
Cooperation (ILAC) both manage accreditation based on internationally
developed and accepted standards. As such, laboratories, inspection bodies
and certification bodies are accredited against international standards.
Conformity assessment bodies in turn use global standards to evaluate
samples, products, services, management systems and persons. By having
this global accreditation system in place, confidence is provided for each leg
of supply chains, helping businesses deliver products and services which,
most importantly, consumers can trust.

The system of accreditation has been estimated to cover economies that

represent 96% of global GDP (Source: World Economic Forum); IAF members
accredit certification bodies and verification/validation bodies and ILAC
members accredit laboratory and inspection bodies.

This system helps to ensure the work of accreditation bodies across the globe
is consistent, maintaining international standards from one accreditation
body to another. The mainstream acceptance of accreditation by both pan-
regional bodies and domestic regulators within individual governments also
helps WTO member governments to meet their responsibilities under the
Technical Barriers to Trade Agreement. This example demonstrates one of the
key goals of accreditation to support trade.

World Accreditation Day 2019 aims to highlight and celebrate the way
accreditation adds value to supply chains. Its objective enable a wide
audience of businesses, government, regulators and consumers to
understand better the role of accreditation in adding value to supply chains.

Accreditation: Delivering a Safer World

World Accreditation Day 2018 focuses on how accreditation delivers

a safer world.

The expectation of safe workplaces, safe products, safe transport, safe food,
in fact all aspects of our lives is universally shared. Statistics however show
that the expectation is not being matched by the reality. Closing this gap is a
vital consideration for government, regulators and businesses, aiming to keep
people safer in their work, their domestic life, their journeys and all other
parts of their lives.

Standards, conformity assessment and accreditation are wellestablished and

accepted tools that are used to help deliver a safer world. Examples of the
use of these tools include: life guards having accredited certification in Dubai;
asbestos testing at accredited laboratories in the UK; certification for
adventure tourism activities in New Zealand; accredited certification in the
Czech Republic for electronic tool workers; accredited inspection for public
lifts in the Netherlands.

One of the most significant endorsements of the benefits of conformity

assessment is with an Italian insurer. By analysing the rates of workplace
accidents between organisations who have certification to the OHSAS 18001
Health & Safety management system standard and those without it, the
insurer offers significantly lower insurance premiums to those certified to the
standard as they see those with the certification as a much lower risk.
The use of management systems to help reduce health & safety risks will be
considerably expanded in March 2018 with the publication of the first ISO
Health & Safety management system standard, ISO 45001, designed to
improve organisations’ health & safety performance by recognising the risks
and developing objectives, policies, processes and controls to minimise these
risks.

Another clear example of how accreditation delivers a safer world is through

the Dutch criminal justice system, where DNA evidence will only be admissible
if the DNA testing has been conducted by a laboratory accredited to ISO/IEC
17025. By having the DNA testing in a laboratory that is accredited by an
ILAC Mutual Recognition Arrangement (MRA) signatory, this ensures that the
judicial system in upheld, and that citizens are consistently protected.

These examples provide a very brief introduction to the vast range of ways
accreditation, conformity assessment and standards can deliver a safer world.
Completed projects, raw materials, products, processes, services,
management systems, and persons can be evaluated against a standard,
code of practice, or regulatory requirement by testing and calibration
laboratories, inspection bodies, certification bodies and validation &
verification bodies (collectively known as Conformity Assessment Bodies).
Conformity assessment bodies are used to check that products and services
are safe for use.

Accreditation is the independent evaluation of these conformity assessment

bodies against recognised standards to carry out specific activities to ensure
their integrity, impartiality and competence. Through the application of
national and international standards, government, businesses and wider
society can therefore have confidence in the calibration and test results,
inspection reports and certifications provided, delivering both increased
confidence and safer practices.

World Accreditation Day 2018 provides an excellent opportunity to explore

how accreditation can deliver a safer world and for businesses, government
and regulators to find standards, conformity assessment and accreditation
tools to help them in this goal. A brochure giving more details of how
accreditation delivers a safer world is available for download from the IAF and
ILAC websites.

Major events, press and television coverage, workshops and seminars will
take place in conjunction with the celebration of World Accreditation Day in
over 100 countries to raise awareness of the value that accreditation plays in
supporting a safer world.

World Accreditation Day 2017

Accreditation: Delivering Confidence in construction and the built

environment
World Accreditation Day 2017 focuses on how accreditation delivers
confidence in construction and the built environment. Standards, conformity
assessment and accreditation are wellestablished and accepted tools that are
used to support the construction industry, building owners and operators from
contractors to manufacturers, designers and architects, to structural and civil
engineers. They are also used by policy makers, local authorities and
regulators to support constructionbased regulation, environmental
protection, public safety, fraud prevention, public trust and innovation.

The building sector is important for economic development, employment

creation and the environment. In less developed economies, existing
commercial and domestic properties, as well as infrastructure projects such
as roads, bridges and transport networks, tend to be highly vulnerable to
climate and disaster risk. In more developed economies, construction is a
complex and highly competitive sector, which provides challenges for
companies seeking to improve margins, and reduce costs whilst improving
build quality, ensuring a safe environment on site and delivering increasingly
sustainable buildings. The digital revolution is also reaching the construction
sector with Building Information Modelling for the design of structures, to the
embedding of smart and connected technology in construction components.

Construction supply chains are being impacted by the pace of urbanisation,

technological advances in manufacturing and construction techniques,
environmental pressures, changes in design preferences, and evermore
globalisation of supply chains.

Given these factors, it is critical that the public have confidence in the safety,
security, and sustainability of construction projects and the built environment.
Accreditation provides this confidence by providing a system that supports
the management of risk, helps drive efficiency, and demonstrates compliance
with national or local regulation.

Accredited testing, calibration, inspection and certification provide suppliers,

purchasers and specifiers with assurance that construction projects run
efficiently, construction sites are safe and reliable materials are used. They
also provide Government and Regulators with reliable evidence that
completed projects meet regulatory compliance, and existing buildings
continue to be safe to use.

Accreditation covers many disciplines throughout the building supply chain.

Laboratories are accredited to test construction products and raw materials,
geotextiles, engineering materials, machinery and structures, acoustics, and
air leakage testing. Calibration laboratories specialise in acoustics,
dimensional, mass, density, volume, force, torque, hardness, electrical,
pressure, flow, temperature and humidity calibration. Accredited certification
of Quality, Environmental, Occupational Health & Safety, and Energy
Management Systems ensure that construction companies have the
appropriate controls and processes in place to deliver projects efficiently,
control their environmental impact and energy efficiency, and deliver a safe
working environment.
Inspection bodies carry out construction-related activities such as welding
and welding procedures, pressure vessels, piping, and gas, electrical safety,
lifting equipment and the carriage of dangerous goods. Accreditation also
covers inspection services in areas such as asbestos surveying and legionella
risk assessments.

World Accreditation Day 2016

Accreditation: A global tool to support Public Policy

World Accreditation Day 2016 focuses on the support accreditation delivers

as a tool for all areas in the public sector – national and local government,
regulators. Accreditation is a global tool that helps to address local, national
and international needs for governments. Standards, conformity assessment
and accreditation are all market-based tools that can be used by Government
policy makers to deliver better regulation, environmental protection, public
safety, fraud prevention, fair and efficient markets and public trust. There are
four clear ways the public sector can benefit from accreditation and other
conformity assessment tools:

✓ Government can help improve the performance of business by

encouraging the use of conformity assessment by minimising risk and
promoting trade.
✓ Accredited conformity assessment can help government deliver and
enforce its policies
✓ Conformity assessment helps regulators regulate
✓ Government can improve its own performance by using conformity
assessment in its own departments.

To help explain the use of accredited conformity assessment, the website

www.publicsectorassurance.org has been established to showcase different
global examples where accreditation has been used to support public policy
efforts. From assisting forensic science in the UK, to effective voluntary
programmes in the US, to improving the delivery of food safety in Australia,
to protecting consumers in the safety of products in the Gulf Coast Countries,
the site demonstrates real examples where public policy is being delivered
using accreditation.

With the pressure of business dealing with burdensome bureaucracy and the
need for governments to deliver benefits to society, the use of accreditation
enables public officials to use market-based solutions that can be
implemented cost-effectively and timely.

From health & safety to economic development, from encouraging trade to

solving crime and improving security, accreditation is a credible tool that
enable public policy makers and regulators to ensure confidence in how they
want to deliver their public policy.
Accredited conformity assessment activities such as certification, calibration,
testing, inspection and validation and verification, are a great asset to the
public sector in order to meet policy objectives. The ongoing use of
accreditation by public officials from across the globe provides examples of
the benefits delivered, using this dynamic tool for government and regulators.

Accreditation: Facilitating world trade

9 June 2013 marks World Accreditation Day, a global initiative jointly

established by the International Accreditation Forum (IAF) and International
Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) to raise awareness of the
importance of accreditation-related activities. This year the focus is on the
important role accreditation plays in facilitating trade around the world, both
within and across national borders.

The importance of global trade

International trade is the exchange of capital, goods, and services across

international borders or territories. Globalization means that we all enjoy and
rely on a vast number and range of products and services supplied from
overseas. Most of us would find it impossible to imagine, let alone survive, in
a world in which our choice of goods and services was limited to those
produced within the country in which we live.

Every year sees an increase in global trade figures which now run into many
trillions of dollars. International trade represents a large share of the gross
domestic product of most countries. Supporting the continued movement of
capital, goods and services between countries is therefore of huge importance
not only to the health and wellbeing of individuals but also to the economic
health of entire nations around the globe.

What are the issues?

As international trade has grown, so too has the number of national and
international voluntary and mandatory technical regulations, standards,
testing, inspection and certification procedures across all market sectors
which apply to samples, products, services, management systems or
personnel. Generally, these are introduced to meet the legitimate
requirements of quality and safety that consumers, businesses, regulators
and other organisations demand of goods and services, whatever their
country of origin. It is vital, not only for individuals and organisations but for
national and international economic health, that products and services can
cross borders to meet global demand without causing undue risk to the health
and security of individuals or the environment.

But in these challenging economic conditions, it is also vital that regulations

and standards—which can vary from country to country—are not prohibitively
costly or burdensome to businesses and that they do not represent technical
barriers either to domestic markets or to export opportunities.

What is the role of accreditation?

Operating in the public interest across all market sectors, accreditation

determines the technical competence, reliability and integrity of conformity
assessment bodies. These are organisations that check conformity and
compliance with standards and regulations through testing, verification,
inspection and calibration. Accreditation works through a process of
transparent and impartial evaluation of these organisations against
internationally recognised standards and other requirements.

Accredited conformity assessment is one tool that is helping businesses not

only to comply efficiently and effectively with regulations and standards
around the globe but also to gain competitive advantage from doing so and
to expand into new markets, including those overseas.

It is the primary purpose of both ILAC (in the accreditation of laboratories

and inspection bodies) and IAF (in the accreditation of management systems,
products, services and personnel) to establish multilateral arrangements
between their member accreditation bodies based on mutual evaluation and
acceptance of each other’s accreditation systems.

In this way the acceptance of products and services across national borders
is made easier by removing the need for them to undergo additional tests,
inspections or certification in each country into which they are sold.

What benefit does accreditation provide?

For national authorities and regulators

With confidence in the conformity assessment process underpinned by

accreditation, standards can be used to support a lighter touch approach to
regulation, which in turn means that businesses spend less time tied up with
bureaucracy.

Multilateral arrangements between national accreditation bodies have also

helped make accreditation an internationally recognised ‘stamp of approval’
to demonstrate compliance against agreed standards and requirements.
These arrangements provide governments and regulators with a credible and
robust framework on which to further develop and enhance government-
togovernment bilateral and multilateral international trade agreements.

For consumers

International accreditation agreements help increase the choice of goods and

services available on the market and help to ensure that these meet relevant
standards of quality and safety, whatever their country of origin.

For businesses
Holding accredited conformity assessment results shows credible evidence of
conformance with national and international standards and regulations which
can differentiate a business from its competitors.

As accreditation is recognised internationally, it can open doors overseas

equally as well as those in the domestic market. Indeed, an increasing
number of organisations in both the public and private sectors in domestic
markets and overseas are specifying accredited testing, inspection or
certification as a precondition to tendering for contracts.

Accredited conformity assessment can also contribute to the operational

efficiency of businesses in other ways, saving time and money by reducing
bureaucracy and by helping with risk management and key aspects of
decision -making. For instance, it can be used as a basis on which to make
efficient and informed choices about domestic suppliers and promotes
confidence in imports from other countries. It can also demonstrate due
diligence in the event of legal action.

What is the role of accreditation?

Accreditation is the independent evaluation of these conformity assessment

bodies against recognised standards to carry out specific activities to ensure
their integrity, impartiality and competence. Through the application of
national and international standards, government, procurers and consumers
can therefore have confidence in the calibration and test results, inspection
reports and certifications provided.

Accreditation bodies are established in many countries with the primary

purpose of ensuring that conformity assessment bodies are subject to
oversight by an authoritative body.

Accreditation bodies, that have been evaluated by peers as competent, sign

arrangements that enhance the acceptance of products and services across
national borders, thereby creating a framework to support trade.

These arrangements are managed by the International Laboratory

Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC), in the area of laboratory and inspection
accreditation, and the International Accreditation Forum (IAF), in the fields
of management systems, products, services, personnel. Both organisations,
ILAC and IAF, work together and coordinate their efforts to enhance
accreditation and conformity assessment worldwide.

What benefit does accreditation provide?

For National Authorities and Regulators

Regulators can set policy requirements or detailed technical requirements

and rely on accredited laboratories, inspection bodies or certification bodies
to check for compliance. Regulators can therefore reduce their in-house
inspectorates and specialist assessment personnel to reduce cost or target
their inspections more effectively. The use of accredited services can also
moderate the need for additional legislation, as well as reducing the risk of
unintended consequences. International accreditation arrangements provide
Regulators with a robust and credible framework to accept accredited test
results, inspection reports and certifications from overseas, with an
equivalent level of confidence as if they were carried out in the local economy.
Accreditation therefore provides a reliable monitoring tool to support the work
of food safety and drinking water agencies.

For consumers

Consumer confidence can be gained from goods or services that are

accompanied by an accredited certificate of conformity. International
accreditation agreements ensure that such goods and services placed on the
market, from which ever country of origin, meet standards of quality and
safety.