We’re all familiar with ISO 9001 Certificates carrying three logos, for example, the Certification Body logo (say, Lloyds Register), the Accreditation Body logo (say, UKAS) and the IAF logo. But the IAF logo doesn’t appear on every Certificate. Why is that? And is it significant?
Only standards formally endorsed by IAF – the International Accreditation Forum - under their IAF Multilateral Recognition Arrangement (MLA) can enjoy worldwide recognition. Accreditation for other standards, even though granted by the same Accreditation Boards, does not have international recognition.
The International Accreditation Forum (IAF) is an international association of accreditation bodies that deal with assessing the conformity of management systems to accepted standards.
There are 102 IAF Members and Signatories at present.
Accreditation body members of IAF are admitted to the MLA only after a stringent evaluation of their operations by a peer evaluation team. It is the responsibility of this team to assess that the applicant member complies fully with both the international standards and IAF guidelines.
Each accreditation body that is a signatory to the IAF MLA commits to:
The primary purpose of IAF is two-fold.
Firstly, to ensure that its accreditation body members only accredit bodies (i.e. certification bodies) that are competent to do the work they undertake and are not subject to conflicts of interest.
The second purpose of the IAF is to establish mutual recognition arrangements, known as Multilateral Recognition Arrangements (MLA), between its accreditation body members which reduces risk to business and its customers by ensuring that an accredited certificate may be relied upon anywhere in the world. The MLA also contributes to the freedom of world trade by eliminating technical barriers to trade.
Note 1: There’s added, and unnecessary, confusion about Regional Accreditation Groups. The IAF MLA has been structured to build on existing and developing regional MLAs established around the world. IAF has granted Special Recognition to the MLA programs of five Regional Accreditation Groups…
Membership of the IAF MLA is recognised as being satisfied by the membership of any of the above MLAs for recognised programs. Therefore, you may see the logos of these organizations also on ISO Certificates – four logos in total.
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Note 2: The IAF has a sister organization, the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC). The IAF is active in the fields of management systems, products, services, personnel and other similar programmes of conformity assessment, while the ILAC operates in the field of laboratory and inspection accreditation. Attempts are being made to unify the two organizations.
The list of IAF endorsed normative documents for management systems is currently (August 2020) limited to seven:
It is interesting to note that for ISO 13485 Certificates, the inclusion of the IAF logo, in addition to the logos of the certification body and of the accreditation board, was first permitted in 2015. Since then the IAF has encouraged the addition of their logo to all Certificates where applicable.
In granting a Certification Body accreditation for an IAF endorsed Standard, Accreditation Bodies limit the scope of the accreditation to those economic sectors where they, the Accreditation Body, consider competence has been demonstrated.
It is demanding and expensive for Certification Bodies to maintain a broad range of scope unless they have the business to justify the expenditure. If your Certification Body's Scope of Accreditation doesn't cover your economic sector, talk to them about it. They may be very pleased to extend their scope to satisfy your need.
Two situations need to be considered, the first relates to your relationship with your Customers and the second to your relationship with your Suppliers.
For your Customers, the presence of an IAF logo significantly adds to the prestige of the ISO Certificate you offer, and this is particularly important when negotiating with potential customers, especially international ones. The best practical approach is to seek out a Certification Body for your business that can provide accredited certification with IAF endorsement.
As for your Suppliers, if the ISO Certificates offered do not carry an IAF logo, you should always ask why. If you cannot be provided with a rational explanation, or if the response to your question is a glazed look, move on and get yourself another Supplier who can provide ISO Certificates with all three logos – the real deal!
See the complete body of information on the IAF website or see our full suite of ISO auditor courses for comparison.
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We have chosen ISO 21001 certification because, unlike IRCA and Exemplar badges (which in our opinion are commercially compromised), it is based on independent third-party assessment. It is a ‘university grade’ standard in use globally by schools, colleges, and universities to demonstrate their competence.