Accredited services

Conformity assessment

Certifications, inspections and verifications, tests and calibrations undertaken by accredited CABs are conformity assessment activities ensuring respect for the standards and enhancing trust.

In an international market of growing complexity it’s becoming ever more important for businesses, institutions and consumers to be able to trust tools which guarantee the quality and safety of products and services. This is especially true of sectors in which respect for the principles of general interests are involved, such as health and the environment.

Accredited services, carried out by CABs with Accredia’s qualification, offer an effective response to this need. Certifications, inspections, tests and calibrations issued under accreditation, are conformity assessment activities aimed at attesting the respect for the requirements of the mandatory or voluntary standards for products, services, systems, processes and professional persons.

Accredited conformity assessment brings tangible benefits for businesses, institutions and consumers and it helps to spread greater trust in the quality and safety of goods available on the market.

Declarations of conformity

The validity and reliability of accredited services can be verified using the documents issued by CABs performing conformity assessments:

Certificates of conformity, issued by certification bodies
Verification declarations, issued by verification bodies
Greenhouse gas emissions declarations, issued by verification and validation bodies
Inspection reports, issued by inspection bodies
Test reports, issued by testing laboratories
Analysis reports, issued by medical laboratories
Interlaboratory test reports, issued by proficiency testing providers
Calibration certificates, issued by calibration laboratories
Products information and certificates of reference materials, issued by reference materials producers
Medical reference measurement certificates, issued by reference measurements laboratories
Biological material reports, issued by biobanks

The areas: voluntary and mandatory

For businesses the decision to use the services of accredited CABs is generally voluntary, but the number of sectors for which national and EU standards require the conformity of a product or service is constantly increasing, in particular for obtaining tenders in both the public and private sectors.

The voluntary area

Accredited certifications, inspections, verifications, tests and calibrations are voluntary choices for private and public organizations and businesses in order to gain competitiveness, to strengthen reputation and their offer of goods or services, and to find new business opportunities, also in the international market.

The mandatory area

There are products and services which can be placed on the market only after a verification of conformity by an accredited CAB, such as products with the CE marking, agrifood products or environmental and energy efficiency services. A rising number of tender contracts also require a conformity assessment issued under accreditation.

Accredited CABs

The CABs that perform the conformity assessment services are accredited according to the applicable international ISO/IEC standards.

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