THE JAPAN ACCREDITATION BOARD FOR CONFORMITY ASSESSMENT

In January 1998, at the 11th Annual Meeting of the International Accreditation Forum (IAF), approval was given for sixteen bodies from seventeen countries, including the Japan Accreditation Board for Conformity Assessment (JAB), to sign a Multilateral Recognition Arrangement.

For some time preceding this event, Accreditation Bodies from individual countries had been working under the auspices of IAF to prepare for the implementation of Multilateral Recognition between Accreditation Bodies for registration/certification of quality management systems. The first formal applications from Accreditation Bodies seeking multilateral recognition were received in September 1996. Peer evaluations of applicant Accreditation Bodies against ISO/IEC Guide 61 and the IAF Guidance Document (Draft 4) commenced in January 1997. The first signatories were those Accreditation Bodies accepted in January 1998. At the 12th Annual Meeting of IAF, held in October 1998, two more Accreditation Bodies from two countries were admitted to the MLA group. As at November 2001, 28 Accreditation Bodies had achieved MLA Signatory status.

This group of 28 Accreditation Bodies is known as the IAF MLA Group. The member bodies of this Group must recognize other members' accreditations as equivalent to their own. All the Accreditation Body members of IAF that have not yet received a peer evaluation will be scheduled to be evaluated if they apply to become a member of the IAF MLA Group.