The AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR LABORATORY ACCREDITATION (A2LA) is a nonprofit, nongovernmental, public service membership society dedicated to the formal recognition of competent laboratories and related activities. During 2005, A2LA operated the following different types of voluntary accreditation programs to recognize competency in support of assuring the quality of data used in decision-making:

• Accreditation of testing and calibration laboratories (regardless of ownership); the essential requirements are technical competence and compliance with ISO/IEC 17025:2005;
• Accreditation of inspection bodies to ISO/IEC 17020:1998;
• Accreditation of proficiency testing providers to ILAC G-13:2000;
• Accreditation of reference material producers to ISO Guide 34:2000 in combination with ISO/IEC 17025;
• Accreditation of product certification bodies to ISO/IEC Guide 65:1996.

During 2005, A2LA maintained a membership of 417 individuals and organizations. Membership in A2LA is separate and distinct from accreditation. Members elect the Board of Directors and receive discounts on training and accreditation fees.

Recognition of the A2LA laboratory accreditation program comes from organizations around the world with which A2LA has mutual recognition arrangements or other forms of recognition.

A2LA's conformity assessment programs are described in the paragraphs that follow.