Laboratory Accreditation 

Laboratory accreditation was developed in Australia immediately following WWII.  Its purpose was to facilitate recognition of testing and measurement laboratories within Australia, purely for domestic purposes.  An important subsidiary objective was to encourage all laboratories to aspire to reach the necessary standard for accreditation. 

Other countries gradually became aware of the work and its organisational arrangements operated by the National Association of Testing Authorities (NATA) and watched its development with interest without being persuaded of its benefits for them except in niche activities.  The first such offspring was the British Calibration Service – for measurement laboratories only.  It had as an immediate objective, the recognition of calibration documentation issued by British laboratories in all markets, not just in the UK. 

Comprehensive national accreditation programs on the NATA model began to emerge in the 1970s in Denmark, New Zealand, the USA and Canada.  Others were to follow.

June 9, 2016, marks World Accreditation Day as a global initiative, jointly established by the International Accreditation Forum (IAF) and the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC), to raise awareness of the importance of accreditation.

• ILAC, in partnership with IAF and IIOC, hosted a workshop session at the WTO Public Forum in October.
• ILAC and IAF presented at a workshop organised jointly by ISO, IEC and ITU in December.
• ILAC and IAF jointly presented the value of accreditation and the Arrangements at the twenty-fifth session of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Working Party on Regulatory Cooperation and Standardization Policies (WP.6).
  
  

The International Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (IFCC - www.ifcc.org) has prepared a PowerPoint presentation, with commentary, to address this important topic. The 20 minute presentation is the result of the collaboration between IFCC and ILAC.

• IAAC Membership
• IAAC MLA Signatories
• IAAC as a Regional Cooperation
• Training
• Technical Cooperation Projects
• Cooperation with International and Regional Organizations  
• Upcoming IAAC Meetings

1. Change in the ARAC membership categories 
2. ARAC Cooperation with the other Regional Cooperation Bodies 
3. ARAC Annual meetings 
4. 2nd ARAC MLA Regional Workshop 
5. Improvement of the ARAC Management System
6. Activities to Promote the IAF MLA, ILAC MRA and ARAC MLA
7. Preparation of ARAC for the upcoming ILAC&IAF   Peer evaluation: conducting the Mock Peer evaluation of ARA Secretariat 
8. Preparation for the first ARAC PT program
9. ARAC Strategy Plan 
10. Upcoming ARAC key events

The SADCAS Quality Management System (QMS)which provides the springboard for quality services was developed with assistance from Norwegian Accreditation and the South African national Accreditation System (SANAS) in order to ensure compliance with ISO/IEC 17011. 

The ANSI-ASQ National Accreditation Board (ANAB) has acquired Accreditation Services Bureau, doing business as Laboratory Accreditation Bureau (L-A-B).