IAS has added four new pages to it’s website (www.iasonline.org) that include general information about IAS translated into Arabic, Chinese, German and Spanish. The information will help increase recognition for IAS accredited clients globally. “While IAS is a U.S. based accreditation body, many of our U.S. clients do business internationally. Also, many international clients are looking to do business in other countries. All of these companies must have an accreditation that is recognized by regulators and industries around the world,” said Chuck Ramani, President of IAS. IAS is able to provide this recognition because our organization is voluntarily assessed by our peer accreditation bodies around the world, most of which are governmental regulatory agencies. Over 60 plus countries recognize each other’s accreditation programs based on the peer assessment process. IAS is a Mutual Recognition Arrangement (MRA) signatory of the Asia Pacific Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (APLAC) and the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC). Also, IAS is a Multilateral Recognition Arrangement (MLA) signatory of the Pacific Accreditation Cooperation (PAC) and the International Accreditation Forum (IAF).

Many countries have their own accreditation bodies that provide equivalent accreditations to those provided by IAS. “When an entity from another country is seeking accreditation from IAS, we have a policy of informing the applicant about the opportunity to become accredited from an accreditation body in their own country,” said Ramani. This Cross Frontier Policy is implemented by accreditation bodies around the world that belong to the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation and International Accreditation Forum.

On an international level, regulators set overall policy requirements or detailed technical requirements and rely on laboratories, inspection agencies or certification bodies to check for compliance. IAS accreditation verifies the competence of inspection agencies, testing laboratories, and product certification bodies and provides a means for preventing unsafe, unhealthy or environmentally harmful products from entering the market place.