25 successful years for the International Accreditation Forum
In 2018 IAF, the International Accreditation Forum, celebrated its 25th anniversary.
The number of its Members now totals 109, with 82 Accreditation Body Members, 21 Association Members, and 6 Regional Accreditation Group Members.
The IAF Multilateral Recognition Arrangement (IAF MLA) has 72 Accreditation Body Signatories and 5 Recognized Regional Accreditation Group MLAs.
IAF Accreditation Body Members had accredited 7,493 Certification Bodies worldwide as of 2017, an increase of 12% over the previous year.
Progress on development of the IAF Database of Accredited Certifications (now known as IAF CertSearch) continues; the aim is for it to go live in 2019.
As reported at the General Assembly, data gathered from IAF Accreditation Body Members and their accredited Certification Bodies by the end of September 2018 gave a 93% transition rate to the 2015 versions of the quality and environmental management system standards ISO 9001 and ISO 14001.
The above just highlights some of many recent achievements. The great success of IAF is the result of all Members’ efforts and support from many partner organizations. Many people have made great contributions over the years. IAF has built a structure and culture for different categories of Members to work together and engage with partner international organizations.
In addition, IAF, alone or jointly with ILAC, has signed MoUs with the International Standards Organization (ISO), International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), International Telecommunication Union (ITU), International Organization of Legal Metrology (OIML) and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) for cooperation, and with the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI), GLOBALG.A.P., Quality and Safety System of Specialty Feed Ingredients (FAMI-QS) and International Personnel Certification Association (IPC) for endorsement of relevant certification schemes as sub-scopes of the IAF MLA.
IAF is also engaged with the World Trade Organization (WTO), Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), United Nations Economic Cooperation for Europe (UNECE), United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).
The IAF General Assembly in Singapore decided that the IAF Executive Committee would conduct a new Strategic Plan in 2019, working jointly with the ILAC Executive Committee for joint activities, for the developing of strategic directions and actions for 2020 to 2025 and continual support for the bright future of IAF.