ILAC encourages the use of its brochures and publications by organisations wishing to use such material for areas related to education, standardisation, accreditation, good laboratory practice or other purposes relevant to ILAC’s area of expertise or endeavour.
ILAC’s brochures on laboratory accreditation, etc may be reproduced, printed or distributed without need for formal permission from ILAC.
Organisations seeking permission to reproduce material from ILAC’s guidance, procedural or information publications must contact the ILAC Chair or Secretariat in writing or via electronic means such as email. The request for permission should clearly detail:
1) the ILAC publication, or part thereof, for which permission is sought;
2) where the reproduced material will appear and what it will be used for;
3) whether the document containing the ILAC material will be distributed commercially, where it will be distributed or sold, and what quantities will be involved;
4) any other background information that may assist ILAC to grant permission.
The document in which the reproduced material appears must contain a statement acknowledging ILAC’s contribution to the document. ILAC’s permission to reproduce its material only extends as far as detailed in the original request. Any variation to the stated use of the ILAC material must be notified in advance in writing to ILAC for additional permission.
ILAC is an international cooperation of accreditation bodies rather than an accreditor of laboratories. ILAC's full members (as well as its associates and affiliates) usually accredit laboratories in their own economy, but are often able to accredit facilities in other countries, when needed. If your country does not currently have an ILAC representative you will need to visit the Online Directory on the ILAC website and locate an accreditation body in your region to contact directly.
Many organisations are eligible for ILAC membership either as a full member, associate, affiliate, stakeholder or as a national or regional body. For example, laboratories may participate in ILAC by joining one of the many laboratory associations that are stakeholder members in ILAC (these are listed in the Online Directory ). Laboratory accreditation bodies that are still in the process of establishing their own systems can join as an Affiliate. For a full explanation of these various membership options please visit the page entitled Membership of ILAC.
A developing system of international mutual recognition agreements has enabled accredited laboratories to achieve a form of international recognition, thus allowing test data accompanying exported goods to be more readily accepted on overseas markets.
Many countries around the world have one or more organisations responsible for the accreditation of their nation's laboratories. Most of these accreditation bodies have now adopted an international standard, called ISO/IEC 17025, as the basis for the accreditation of their country's testing and calibration laboratories.
Adoption of this international standard has helped countries adopt a uniform approach to determining laboratory competence. This uniform approach allows countries with similar accreditation systems to establish agreements between themselves, based on mutual evaluation and acceptance of each other's accreditation systems.
Such international agreements, usually called mutual recognition arrangements, are crucial in enabling test data to be accepted between these countries. In effect, each partner in such an arrangement recognises the other partner's accredited laboratories as if they themselves had undertaken the accreditation of the other partner's laboratories.
The aim of the ILAC Arrangement is to develop a global network of accredited testing and calibration laboratories that can be relied on to provide accurate results. Over 22,000 laboratories are now accredited world-wide. The ILAC Arrangement, which came into effect on 31 January 2001, provides technical underpinning to international trade by promoting cross-border stakeholder confidence and acceptance of accredited laboratory data.
This developing system of mutual recognition between accreditation bodies has enabled accredited laboratories to achieve a form of international recognition, and allowed test data accompanying exported goods to be more readily accepted on overseas markets. This effectively reduces costs for both the manufacturer and the importers, as it reduces or eliminates the need for products to be retested in another country.
Countries without viable accreditation systems can also seek to have their laboratories accredited by established accreditation systems, so that their test data and associated goods can be accepted on foreign markets. These countries can also endeavour to develop their own accreditation system based on the structure and experience of these systems in other countries.
The practical effect of 17011 clause 4.3.7 is that any related body, such as an NMI which is a parent body with respect to an accreditation body, must be prohibited from having:
1) any of its top management involved in the top management of the accreditation body in terms of development of policies relating to the operation of the accreditation body, supervision of the implementation of the policies and procedures, supervision of the finances of the accreditation body, decisions on accreditation, contractual arrangements, and delegation of authority to committees or individuals, as required, to undertake defined activities on behalf of top management of the accreditation body [from 17011 clause 4.2.5];
2) its personnel involved in the decision-making processes of accreditation,
3) any power to influence the outcome of an assessment for accreditation, and
4) the same or similar name, logos and symbols used by the accreditation body.
These limitations or prohibitions are commonly called "firewalls." "Firewalls" prevent related bodies from pursuing activities that "compromise the accreditation body's confidentiality, objectivity and impartiality of its accreditations."
The benefits of ILAC membership include:
The first place to look is on the ILAC website’s Online Directory. Many of ILAC’s members have an on-line database of their accredited testing and calibration facilities and these can be found in the second column of the ILAC directory (the column headed Accredited Laboratory Directory). Simply click on the link in this column and you will be taken to the member’s own directory. However please note that the contents and accuracy of the listings in these directories are the responsibility of the member concerned and ILAC takes no part in their updating or checking.
Firstly whether the goods are tested to a particular standard that is recognised or specified in the foreign market. Many countries have specific requirements for the testing of imported goods that must be met before the goods are accepted in their marketplace.
Secondly, is the laboratory accredited by a signatory to the ILAC Mutual Recognition Arrangement (often just referred to as the ‘Arrangement’)? Not all ILAC members are signatories to the Arrangement, and therefore their accredited facilities and test data may not be recognised in other countries.
Thirdly, even though a laboratory accredited by an ILAC Arrangement signatory is more likely to have its test data accepted in a foreign market, this is still no guarantee, as much work remains to be done in getting governments and regulators to understand the nature of both laboratory accreditation and the mechanism of mutual recognition via the Arrangement.