International Recognition of A2LA Programs
A2LA seeks to establish cooperative arrangements with laboratory accreditation systems in other countries and in the United States. These arrangements facilitate the acceptance of test and calibration data between A2LA-accredited laboratories and other countries/economies. A2LA will testify to the competence of each accreditation system with whom it has an MRA and attest to the fact that they follow the recognized norm for operating such systems, ISO 17011, and use ISO/IEC 17025 as the basis for the accreditation of laboratories. Copies of the MRAs are available upon request. A2LA's current cooperative arrangements include the following:
The Mutual Recognition Arrangement (MRA) with the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) was signed on November 2, 2000 and entered into force on January 31, 2001. The original arrangement was signed by 36 laboratory accreditation bodies from 28 economies worldwide. The primary aim of the arrangement is promote the acceptance of technical test and calibration data for exported goods. A2LA was one of three U.S. signatory bodies. The up-to-date contact information for A2LA's partner accreditation bodies that are now signatories to the ILAC MRA is listed at the Arrangement link on the following web site: http://www.ilac.org.
The Mutual Recognition Arrangement with the Asia Pacific Laboratory Accreditation
Cooperation (APLAC), which includes both testing and calibration, was
signed on November 19, 1997 and establishes cooperation among many accreditation
bodies throughout the Asia-Pacific Region. The contact information for
A2LA's partner accreditation bodies that are now signatories to the APLAC
MRA is located at http://www.aplac.org/aplac_mra.html.
The Inter-American Accreditation Cooperation is an association of accreditation bodies and other organizations interested in conformity assessment in the Americas. The Multilateral Recognition Arrangement (MLA) with the Inter-American Accreditation Cooperation (IAAC) was signed on October 24, 2002. The first three signatories are A2LA, INMETRO of Brazil and SCC of Canada. By signing the arrangement, A2LA, SCC and INMETRO agree to formally recognize and promote the equivalency of each other's laboratory accreditations. Since these three bodies already recognize each other under the ILAC (International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation) Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA), this first signing was largely symbolic but forms the foundation for expanding recognition in the Americas. To obtain more information on the current IAAC MLA signatories, please visit the IAAC web site at : http://www.iaac.org.mx/
In addition to the MRAs described above, A2LA has received recognition within the international private sector as well. The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in its January 2009 World Anti-Doping Code International Standard for Laboratories, requires laboratories to be accredited to ISO/IEC 17025 by an accreditation body that is a signatory to the ILAC MRA (such as A2LA) using assessors trained and qualified by WADA.
WADA was established in 1999 as an international independent agency composed and funded equally by the sport movement and governments of the world. Its key activities include scientific research, education, development of anti-doping capacities and monitoring of the World Anti Doping Code, the document harmonizing anti-doping policies in all sports and all countries.
