International Recognition

The International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) is the international forum for laboratory accreditation bodies. Apart from its prime objective of facilitating trade by providing an international network of competent accreditation bodies, through its Mutual Recognition Arrangement (MRA), ILAC (www.ilac.org) is also the principal source of the development and harmonization of laboratory accreditation practices. It works closely with other stakeholder groups, including representatives of its clients (laboratories, inspection bodies, reference material producers, and proficiency testing providers) as well as other interested parties such as metrology institutes (through liaison with BIPM and OIML) and standards bodies such as ISO and the IEC.

It also maintains close links with other groups such as the World Anti-Doping Authority (WADA), UNIDO and the International Accreditation Forum (IAF).

ILAC has more than 70 national and regional body members, which include those from many developing countries. It also has a Joint Development Support Committee (JDSC) as part of its structure, which concentrates on issues affecting accreditation in developing countries. The JDSC is a joint committee of both ILAC and (IAF). During the evolution of ILAC there was also the progressive development of forums for accreditation bodies at the regional level. These regional bodies first emerged in Europe and later in the Asia Pacific, the Americas and Southern Africa. They have similar objectives to the international body but are focused on implementing and developing accreditation practices at the regional level. They are also better placed to assist developing countries in their regions with guidance and capacity building.

There have been some name changes and merging of groups within Europe to form the regional body EA (European cooperation for Accreditation) which now represents European accreditation interests at the international level. However, there has always been close cooperation with the international body, ILAC, by all the regional accreditation bodies which now form part of the formal membership of ILAC as "Regional Cooperation Bodies". The regional bodies currently involved in ILAC (and their websites for additional background) are as follows:

• Asia Pacific Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (APLAC) (www.aplac.org)
• European Cooperation for Accreditation (EA) (www.ea-accreditation.org)
• Inter-American Accreditation Cooperation (IAAC) ( www.iaac.org.mx)
• Southern African Development Community Accreditation (SADCA) (www.sadca.org)

Much of the evaluation of accreditation bodies for membership of the ILAC MRA is conducted at the regional level by APLAC, EA and IAAC, which also maintain their own MRAs at the regional level