Accreditation

The assessment of laboratories and of inspection and certification bodies by the accrediting body against nationally and internationally recognised technical criteria, the confirmation of their competence, and their supervision at regular intervals. Accreditation is also the quality infrastructure supporting the reliability and validity of testing, inspection, calibration, certification and similar activities carried out by conformity assessment bodies. It confirms the competence and impartiality of the body issuing the certificate or report rather than the content of the document.