IIOA Partners
IIOA and its members deliver the trust through the assurance services they provide.
This delivery is possible through working with a variety of partners, who with their specific goals, objectives and expertise, add layers of confidence to the final assurance provided by IIOA members.
This matrix of independent partners builds a strong system of assurance and conformity assessment, from standards-development, scheme ownership to accreditation, the relationships between IIOA and these partners drives forward a better system and better assurance.
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If IIOA’s members are the checkers, Global ACI’s members check the checkers.
Accreditation by Global ACI members assesses if conformity assessment are performing to the correct level and competence. Global ACI member accreditation bodies regularly assess against ISO CASCO standards, building trust in the assurance performed by organisations such as IIOA’s members.
Global ACI states that,
‘Global ACI is the international authority on the accreditation of laboratories, certification bodies, inspection bodies, proficiency testing providers, validation/verification bodies, reference material producers and biobanks. Global ACI members include accreditation bodies, regional cooperation bodies and stakeholder organisations from around the world.’
IIOA works extensively within Global ACI to ensure accreditation policy and procedures deliver robustness in the most efficient and effective manner.
IIOA is a Stakeholder Member of Global ACI.
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IIOA works with two distinct areas of ISO: CASCO – the ISO Committee for Conformity Assessment and individual ISO Technical Committees.
CASCO explains, ‘CASCO is the ISO committee responsible for conformity assessment in ISO. CASCO develops policy and publishes standards related to conformity assessment’. CASCO’s primary output is the ‘CASCO Toolbox‘, a range of standards for conformity assessment. These standards form the rock-solid foundation to the assurance IIOA members deliver. The standards in the CASCO Toolbox determine how IIOA members carry out much of their work. For example, the ISO/IEC 17021-1 determines how IIOA members carry out audits for ISO management system standards and ISO/IEC 17029 states the requirements for validation and verification work, a key activity in sustainability. These standards are then used by accreditation bodies to assess IIOA’s members ability to carry out these services
The CASCO Toolbox also provides tools for this assessment activity, such as ISO/IEC 17011 which stipulates the requirements for an accreditation body assessing a conformity assessment body.
ISO Technical Committees – ISO standards are some of the key documents IIOA members audit against. These range from standards to aid improved sustainability performance like ISO 14001 to the most widely used ISO standard, the quality standard, ISO 9001. IIOA gets involved in the development of a range of the ISO standards through liaison to specific Technical Committees. This ensures IIOA is able to share its members’ expertise from carrying out tens of thousands of audits every year.
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APAC – Asia Pacific Accreditation Cooperation – is one of the regional accreditation groups, in their case for the Asia Pacific region. APAC is recognised by the International Accreditation Forum and the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation.
APAC states, ‘APAC ‘s primary role is to manage and expand a mutual recognition arrangement (MRA) among accreditation bodies in the Asia Pacific region. The MRA facilitates the acceptance of conformity assessment results (e.g. test reports, test certificates, inspection reports, and certification) across the region and with other regions around the world. Conformity assessment results that are produced by conformity assessment bodies (CABs) that have been accredited by one APAC MRA signatory are accepted by all the other APAC MRA signatories. This mutual recognition and acceptance of conformity assessment results reduces the need to undertake duplicate testing, inspection or certification, thus saving time and money, increasing economic efficiency and facilitating international trade.’
IIOA is an Affiliate Member of APAC.
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EA – European co-operation for Accreditation – is the Regional Accreditation Group for the Europe region, recognised by both the International Accreditation Forum and the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation.
EA describes itself as, ‘formally appointed by the European Commission in Regulation (EC) No 765/2008 to develop and maintain a multilateral agreement of mutual recognition, the EA MLA, based on a harmonized accreditation infrastructure.
The EA MLA exists to facilitate fair trade, ensure product and service quality and reduce technical barriers to trade.
EA currently has 49 Members. The EA Members are National Accreditation Bodies (NAB) that are officially recognized by their national governments to assess and verify – against international standards – organizations that carry out conformity assessment activities such as certification, verification, inspection, testing and calibration.’
IIOA is an EA Recognized Stakeholder.
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INetQI – the International Network on Quality Infrastructure – ‘seeks to bring together all specialized organizations that operate at an international level and that are active in promoting and implementing activities on metrology, accreditation, standardization and conformity assessment as tools for sustainable economic development.’
In working as a network, INetQI seeks to ensure that the independent activities of each part of the global quality infrastructure draw their individual priorities, expertise and authority together to better ensure that businesses, government, regulators, consumers and all other stakeholders gain benefit from this system.
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FSSC is, ‘a global non-profit and independent scheme owner of ISO Management System based certification schemes and related development programs.’
FSSC have two key schemes, both offering certification scheme for the auditing and certification:
- FSSC 22000 Food Safety Management Systems to ensure the provision of safe food, feed, and packaging to the consumer goods industry
- FSSC 24000 Social Sustainability Management Systems to ensure safe and fair working conditions in the consumer goods industry.
Aside from IIOA’s members offering certification to both of these schemes, IIOA’s involvement with FSSC extends to Advisory Committees for FSSC 22000 and FSSC 24000 and the FSSC Board of Stakeholders.