How to approach membership of IAF/ILAC Arrangements: the peer evaluation system of IAF and ILAC for single accreditation bodies

Peer evaluation is used by the international accreditation organisations IAF and ILAC as a tool to harmonise the results of accreditation of conformity assessment bodies and as a control mechanism to ensure constantly competent services according to harmonized standards. Upon positive evaluation outcome, the accreditation body may join an Arrangement (MLA/MRA) between accreditation bodies, confirming systematic reliability and competence to the market. The objective of these Arrangements is that they will cover all accreditation bodies in all countries in the world, thus eliminating the need for suppliers of products or services to be certified in each country where they sell their products or services. This article is to aid single accreditation bodies wishing to sign these Arrangements in the future, and, furthermore, to communicate the procedure and the relevance of evaluation to the public in order to build up confidence in such Arrangements.