About IAF

12. MLA Signatories

The mechanism by which IAF implements its objective is the IAF Multilateral Recognition Arrangement (MLA). Accreditation body members of IAF are admitted to the MLA only after a most stringent evaluation of their operations by a peer evaluation team which is charged to ensure that the applicant member complies fully with both the international standards and IAF requirements. Once an accreditation body is a member of the MLA it is required to recognize the certificates issued by certification/registration bodies accredited by all other members of the MLA.

IAF has granted Special Recognition to two Regional Accreditation Groups, the European co-operation for Accreditation (EA) and the Pacific Accreditation Cooperation (PAC), on the basis of the acceptance of the mutual recognition arrangements established within these organizations. Membership of the IAF MLA is recognized as being satisfied by membership of either the EA MLA or the PAC MLA and IAF members who are also signatories of these regional MLAs are automatically accepted into the IAF MLA. Special Recognition was granted to the Interamerican Accreditation Cooperation (IAAC) for the Quality Management Systems (QMS) MLA at the IAF Annual Meetings held in Cancun, Mexico in November 2006.

The first fourteen members to join the IAF Multilateral Recognition Arrangement (MLA) for QMS signed the Arrangement in Guangzhou, China on 22 January 1998. At the IAF Annual Meetings held in Cape Town, South Africa in October 2004, the IAF MLAs for Environmental Management Systems (EMS) and Product Certification became operational with 27 EMS MLA and 21 Product MLA certificates being signed.

The number of IAF MLA Signatories at November 2007 is as follows:

-  IAF QMS MLA:     3 Regional Accreditation Groups (EA, PAC & IAAC) and 39 Accreditation Bodies
-  IAF EMS MLA:     2 Regional Accreditation Groups (EA & PAC) and 36 Accreditation Bodies
-  IAF Product MLA:  2 Regional Accreditation Groups (EA & PAC) and 28 Accreditation Bodies

IAF is encouraging more of its members to join the MLA, as soon as they have passed a rigorous evaluation process, to ensure that their accreditation programs are of world standard.

The consequence of joining the IAF MLA is that ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 conformity assessment certificates issued by certification/registration bodies accredited by any one of the members of the MLA will be recognised in the world wide IAF program.

Contact details of the accreditation bodies which are signatories to the MLA are listed on the IAF Members pages.  Those members which are signatories are denoted by ‚ÄúDate Admitted to the MLA‚Äù.

The signatories of the IAF MLA programs at the present date are indicated below:

International Accreditation Forum (IAF) Multilateral Recognition Arrangement (MLA) Signatories 

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Location	Signatory	MLA & Date Admitted
Argentina	Organismo Argentino de Accreditacion (OAA)	QMS 17 Sep 2005 EMS 17 Sep 2005 Product 17 Sep 2005
Australia & New Zealand	Joint Accreditation System of Australia and New Zealand (JAS-ANZ)	QMS 22 Jan 1998 EMS 9 Oct 2004 Product 9 Oct 2004
Austria	Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Labor (BMWA)	QMS 25 Sep 2003 EMS 9 Oct 2004 Product 9 Oct 2004
Belgium	BELAC	QMS 29 Sep 1999 EMS 9 Oct 2004 Product 9 Oct 2004
Brazil	National Institute of Metrology, Standardization and Industrial Quality (INMETRO)	QMS 23 Aug 1999 EMS 8 Dec 2005
Canada	Standards Council of Canada (SCC)	QMS 22 Jan 1998 EMS 9 Oct 2004 Product 9 Oct 2004
China	China National Accreditation Service for Conformity Assessment (CNAS)	QMS 29 Oct 1999 EMS 9 Oct 2004
Czech Republic	Czech Accreditation Institute, (Cesk√Ω Institut pro Akreditaci, o.p.s.) (CAI)	QMS 29 Sep 1999 EMS 9 Oct 2004 Product 9 Oct 2004
Denmark	Danish Accreditation (DANAK)	QMS 22 Jan 1998 EMS 9 Oct 2004 Product 9 Oct 2004
Finland	The Finnish Accreditation Service (FINAS)	QMS 22 Jan 1998 EMS 9 Oct 2004 Product 9 Oct 2004
France	Comite Francais d’Accreditation (COFRAC)	QMS 30 Mar 1998 EMS 9 Oct 2004 Product 9 Oct 2004
Germany	German Accreditation Council (DAR) on behalf of - TGA (Traegergemeinschaft fuer Akkreditierung GmbH) - DAP (Deutsches Akkreditierungssystem Pruefwesen GmbH)	QMS 22 Jan 1998 & EMS 9 Oct 2004 Product 9 Oct 2004 Product 9 Oct 2004
Greece	Hellenic Accreditation System (ESYD)	QMS 24 Mar 2006 EMS 24 Mar 2006 Product 24 Mar 2006
Hong Kong China	Hong Kong Accreditation Service (HKAS)	QMS 9 Oct 2004
India	National Accreditation Board for Certification Bodies (NABCB)	QMS 22 Sep 2002 EMS 26 Oct 2007
Indonesia	Accreditiation Body of Indonesia (Komite Akreditasi Nasional) (KAN-BSN)	QMS 10 Nov 2000 EMS 9 Oct 2004
Ireland	The Irish National Accreditation Board (INAB)	QMS 29 Oct 1999 EMS 9 Oct 2004 Product 9 Oct 2004
Italy	Sistema Nazionale per l’Accreditamento degli Organsimi di Certificazione (SINCERT)	QMS 22 Jan 1998 EMS 9 Oct 2004 Product 9 Oct 2004
Japan	The Japan Accreditation Board for Conformity Assessment (JAB)	QMS 22 Jan 1998 EMS 9 Oct 2004
Republic of Korea	Korea Accreditation Board (KAB)	QMS 29 Sep 1999 EMS 9 Oct 2004
Republic of Korea	Korean Accreditation System (KAS)	Product 26 Oct 2007
Malaysia	Department of Standards Malaysia (DSM)	QMS 29 Sep 1999 EMS 9 Feb 2006
México	Mexican Accreditation Entity, (Entidad Mexicana de Acreditacion) (EMA)	QMS 3 Nov 2001 EMS 9 Oct 2004 Product 9 Oct 2004
Netherlands	Dutch Accreditation Council (Raad Voor Accreditatie) (RvA)	QMS 22 Jan 1998 EMS 9 Oct 2004 Product 9 Oct 2004
Norway	Norwegian Accreditation (NA)	QMS 16 Apr 1998 EMS 9 Oct 2004 Product 9 Oct 2004
Philippines	Philippine Accreditation Office (PAO)	QMS 22 Sep 2002 EMS 26 Oct 2007
Poland	Polish Centre for Accreditation (PCA)	QMS 16 Feb 2005 EMS 16 Feb 2005 Product 16 Feb 2005
Portugal	Portuguese Institute for Accreditation (IPAC)	QMS 18 Mar 2006 EMS 18 Mar 2006 Product 18 Mar 2006
Singapore	Singapore Accreditation Council (SAC)	QMS 29 Sep 1999 Product 23 Jan 2007
Slovakia	Slovak National Accreditation Service, (Slovenskä Närodnä Akreditaÿnä Sluzba) (Slovakia) (SNAS)	QMS 19 Sep 2003 EMS 9 Oct 2004 Product 9 Oct 2004
Slovenia	Slovenian Accreditation (SA)	QMS 7 Oct 2006 EMS 7 Oct 2006 Product 7 Oct 2006
South Africa	South African National Accreditation System (SANAS)	QMS 29 Oct 1998 EMS 9 Oct 2004 Product 9 Oct 2004
Spain	Entidad Nacional de Acreditacion (ENAC)	QMS 22 Jan 1998 EMS 9 Oct 2004 Product 9 Oct 2004
Sweden	Swedish Board for Accreditation and Conformity Assessment (SWEDAC)	QMS 22 Jan 1998 EMS 9 Oct 2004 Product 9 Oct 2004
Switzerland	State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), Swiss Accreditation Service (SAS)	QMS 22 Jan 1998 EMS 9 Oct 2004 Product 9 Oct 2004
Chinese Taipei	Taiwan Accreditation Foundation (TAF)	QMS 22 Sep 2002 EMS 9 Oct 2004 Product 26 Oct 2007
Thailand	National Accreditation Council of Thailand, The Office of (NAC)	QMS 10 Nov 2000 EMS 9 Oct 2004
Turkey	Turkish Accreditation Agency (TURKAK)	QMS 26 Oct 2007
United Kingdom	United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS)	QMS 22 Jan 1998 EMS 9 Oct 2004 Product 9 Oct 2004
USA	American National Standards Institute - American Society for Quality National Accreditation Board (ANAB)

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