About Accreditation
Accreditation is the status awarded to certification bodies. It means that they have been examined and approved by accreditation councils to assess companies in specific industry sectors.
Accreditation is the status awarded to certification bodies to demonstrate that they have been independently examined and approved by accreditation councils to assess companies in specific industry sectors to specific standards, schemes or directives.
Accreditation proves that the certification body has the necessary professionalism and expertise to conduct assessments and gives additional confidence to the client being certified. For this reason, accredited certification holds greater commercial value and integrity than non-accredited approval.
Accreditation councils are the national bodies responsible for assessing and approving certification bodies, laboratories and inspection bodies. Accreditation councils also advise relevant governments on the appointment of notified bodies under specific European directives.
LRQA Accreditations
Globally, LRQA holds accreditations from over 45 accreditation bodies, including the ANAB, UKAS, ema and more.
Our accredited certification services give our clients and their stakeholders the added assurance and certainty that LRQA itself has been independently verified to hold the knowledge, expertise and capability to deliver trusted certification to specific standards, schemes and directives around the world.
For a full list of our global accreditations please visit: About LRQA
Our advice
Not all certification bodies are made the same. When selecting your certification body, it is important to ensure they are accredited to provide the service you want. Ask about the certification body’s accreditations for your assurance.
The following organizations can provide additional guidance on management systems standards, certification and accreditaion.
International Organization for Standardization (ISO) - www.iso.org
Independent Association of Accredited Registrars (IAAR) - www.iaar.org
ANSI-ASQ National Accreditation Board (ANAB) - www.anab.org
United Kingdon Accreditation Service (UKAS) - www.ukas.com