Multilateral Recognition Arrangement Documents (ML Series)

 

The primary purpose of IAF is to establish Multilateral Recognition Arrangements (MLA) between its accreditation body members in order to contribute to the freedom of world trade by eliminating technical barriers to trade.

 

The purpose of the MLA is to allow accreditations and the certificates issued by certification/registration bodies accredited by members of the MLA to be recognised by the other members of the MLA. The objective is that the MLA will cover all accreditation bodies in all countries in the world, thus eliminating the need for suppliers of products or services to be certified in each country where they sell their products or services (certified once – accepted everywhere).

 

Membership of the MLA is based on peer evaluation of each applicant for membership of the MLA and continued surveillance of each member to ensure and confirm that all the members of the MLA operate their accreditation programs, and are implementing the Guidelines, consistently and in an equivalent way.

 

The accreditation programs of members of the MLA are based on relevant ISO/IEC Guides. In order to ensure that the various programs are operated in an equivalent way, IAF issues Guidance to the Application of the various ISO/IEC Guides.  The IAF Guidance documents are based on the experience of accreditation bodies in applying the ISO/IEC Guides in practice, and represent agreement among IAF members on best practice in the application of those Guides.  Accreditation bodies which are members of the MLA are required to adopt the IAF Guidance as part of their general rules of operation.

 

Download MLA Documents (ML Series)

 

The following documents are available in Adobe Acrobat PDF. If you do not have Acrobat Reader installed on your computer it is available here free from Adobe.

 

IAF ML 1:2003 Procedure for Exchange of Documentation among IAF MLA Accreditation Bodies

(Issue 1, issued on 1 November 2003)

 

Describes procedures for the exchange of documentation among accreditation bodies that are members of the IAF MLA, where such documentation issued by the originating accreditation body is requested for consideration as part of assessment activities relating to the granting, maintaining, extending, reducing, suspending and withdrawing of accreditation by the receiving accreditation body. This document does not make it mandatory for IAF member accreditation bodies to exchange documents.

 

IAF ML 2:2004 General Principles on Use of the IAF MLA Mark

(Issue 1, issued on 7 August 2004; application from 7 August 2004)Specifies general principles for the use of the IAF Multilateral Recognition Arrangement (MLA) Mark in conjunction with the MLA signatory’s own accreditation mark together with licensing requirements.

 

IAF ML 3:2004 IAF Procedure on Responding to Inquiries on Multilateral Recognition Arrangement (MLA) Signatory Equivalence

(Issue 1, issued on 7 August 2004; application from 7 February 2005)

Procedure to be used by IAF Multilateral Recognition Arrangement (MLA) signatories and other IAF members, as appropriate, to respond to inquiries regarding the equivalence of accreditations of MLA signatories.

 

 IAF ML 4:2005 MLA Policies and Procedures

(Issue 4, issued on 15 December 2005; application from 1 January 2006)

IAF ML 4:2005, the "IAF Policies and Procedures for a Multilateral Recognition Arrangement on the Level of Accreditation Bodies and on the Level of Regional Groups" (MLA P&P4) defines the policies and procedures that IAF will use to establish, maintain and extend a MLA among both accreditation body members and regional accreditation groups which operate a regional MLA.  ILAC/IAF Multilateral Mutual Recognition Arrangements (Arrangements) publications A1, A2 and A3 (available from Publications, IAF-ILAC Joint Publications – A Series) outline the operation of the IAF MLA programs and include the requirements to be met by a regional accreditation group/single accreditation body to be a member of the IAF MLA.  IAF ML 4:2005 provides additional requirements to IAF/ILAC A1, A2 and A3.

 

IAF ML 5:2008 Procedure for IAF Listing of Foreign Critical Locations (FCLs)/Foreign Premises (FPs)

(Issue 1, issued on 15 April 2008; application immediate)

 

Published as a zip file IAF ML5:2008 provides the procedure for the IAF Listing of Foreign Critical Locations (FCLs)/Foreign Premises (FPs) designed as a tool for monitoring the implementation of IAF Cross Frontier Accreditation Guidance and facilitating the cooperation among IAF MLA signatory Accreditation Body (AB) Members.  Annex 1 is a separate spreadsheet of the format of the IAF Listing of FCLs/FPs for Use by IAF ABs and Annex 2 is a separate spreadsheet of the format of the IAF Listing of FCLs/FPs for Use by the IAF MLA Management Committee (MLA MC).

 

IAF Multilateral Recognition Arrangement

 

Multilateral Recognition Arrangement (MLA).

 

IAF MLA - Procedure for Identification of Equivalence of Accreditations

 

The IAF MLA Procedure for Identification of Equivalence of Accreditations is intended to ensure that members of the IAF MLA and Regional MLA's are able to claim membership of the MLA in a consistent fashion, and so to allow certification/registration bodies accredited by them to claim world wide recognition for the certificates they issue, based on the accreditation body's membership of the IAF MLA.

 

IAF Guidance on Completing Peer Evaluation Reports for the IAF Multilateral Recognition Arrangement

 

The MLA Management Committee relies upon the report of the peer evaluation team to decide if an applicant for admission or continued membership of the MLA should be granted membership of the MLA. The attached guidance sets out the minimum requirements for the contents of a peer evaluation report which allows the MLA MC to make informed decisions.