IAF Membership

IAF is a global association of Accreditation Bodies, Conformity Assessment Body associations, Regional Accreditation Groups, and Industry associations. Membership in IAF is separated into a number of categories :

• Accreditation Body Membership
  : Accreditation Body Membership consists of the body that develops and manages the accreditation of bodies that perform conformity assessments, such as management system certification, product certification, personnel certification or verification.
• Association member
  : Association membership consists of organizations or associations that participate in, use, accept or depend on the results of conformity assessments of institutions accredited by IAF Accreditation Body members.
• Regional Accreditation Group
  : Regional Accreditation Groups consist of associations of Accreditation Bodies and other bodies that recognize equivalence in accreditation among their members in the region and purpose to establish and main MLA (Multilateral Recognition Agreement).

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Regional Accreditation Group

Regional Accreditation Group was established to managed and expand MLA (Multilateral Recognition Arrangements) among Accreditation Bodies in each region. By mutually recognizing conformity assessment results between the region and other regions of the world through MLA, it can reduce the need for duplicate certification, increase economic efficiency and facilitate international trade. IAF evaluates Regional Accreditation Groups every 4 years, and the current status of Regional Accreditation Groups accepted by IAF is as follows.

• •  Africa: AFRAC (African Accreditation Cooperation)
• •  Americas: IAAC (Inter American Accreditation Cooperation)
• •  Arab region: ARAC (ARAB Accreditation Cooperation)
• •  Europe: EA (European co-operation for Accreditation)
• •  Pacific: APAC (Asia Pacific Accreditation Cooperation Incorporated)
• •  Southern Africa: SADCA (Southern African Development Community Cooperation in Accreditation)

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APAC

AS, an Accreditation Body of GPC, is an accreditation body in the United States, and officially joined APAC MLA on June 15, 2016 for personnel certification and APAC MLA for IPC schemes on February 21, 2019.