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Telecommunication Certification Body (TCB) Program

Telecommunication Certification Body (TCB) Program

A2LA is recognized by the NIST/NVCASE program as an accreditation body for certification bodies that certify products related to telecommunications equipment.

A Telecommunication Certification Body (TCB) is an accredited product certification body with the authority to issue Grants of Certification for compliance with Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rules and regulations.

A2LA is recognized by the National Institute of Standards and Technology National Voluntary Conformity Assessment Systems Evaluation (NIST/NVCASE) program as an accreditor of certification bodies that certify products related to telecommunications equipment. This recognition enables accredited TCBs to certify that specified telecommunication equipment satisfies designated foreign or domestic government regulatory requirements.

This specialty program is covered under the A2LA Product Certification Accreditation Program.

Program Requirements

The A2LA Scope of Recognition through NIST/NVCASE includes the following regulatory requirements:

FCC Telecommunication Certification Body (TCB) Program
Innovation Science and Economic Development Canada under the APEC TEL MRA Phase II
Singapore's Info-Communications Media Development Authority (IMDA) under APEC TEL MRA Phase II
Hong Kong's Office of Communications Authority (OFCA) under the APEC TEL MRA Phase II
Japan: Telecommunication Business Act and Radio Law (MIC) under US-Japan MRA

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Summary of CASCO ISO/IEC 17025 WG44 Drafting Group Meeting in Geneva, July 2017

A2LA Today l September 2017 l Number 136 By Tim Osborne, A2LA Senior Director of Training Services Read more

Revising ISO/IEC 17025 – A Summary of CASCO WG44 Meeting 5

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ISO/IEC 17025:2017 - Forensic Q&A

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ISO/IEC 17025 Identified as an Approved Forensic Standard by the OSAC

The Organization of Scientific Area Committees (OSAC), a forensic organization administered by National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), has recently completed its review of the ISO/IEC … Read more

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ISO/IEC 17065 Requirements Explanations

Our parent company has a division which offers consulting services on both the types of products our Certification Body certifies, as well as product types that we do not offer certification for. Is this allowed, and if so, under what restrictions?

Answer

CASCO, the ISO Committee responsible for issues r…

My Certification Body operates under a larger corporate umbrella, and we send portions of our Evaluation work to another department in the corporation. Is this considered “outsourcing” the work to an outside body?

Answer

Note 2 of clause 6.2.2.1 states “Use of external …

My certification body outsources our evaluation activities to an ISO/IEC 17025 accredited testing laboratory. Can we leverage the status of this laboratory’s accreditation as our means of qualifying, assessing, and monitoring this external resource?

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The NOTE below clause 6.2.2.4 clarifies when a Ce…

My organization issues a blanket statement on our contracts which states “your product may be sent to an outside laboratory for testing in the event we are unable to perform timely evaluation” – does this meet the requirements of the standard?

Answer

Clause 6.2.2.4(f) requires the certification body…

Is Application Review considered part of the Evaluation stage in the Certification Process, such that my Application Reviewer cannot also be a formal Reviewer (per Section 7.5) or Certification Decision Maker (per Section 7.6)?

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The Application Review stage of the certification…

A client has asked us to certify a new product which we have not certified before, but this new product is somewhat similar to ones we have been certifying in the past. How do we determine whether or not we have “prior experience” with the new product we

Answer

The Certification Body should compare the new pro…

What type of records are required to justify our organization’s competence and capability to perform a certification we have not performed before (such as called out in clause 7.3.2)?

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A2LA does not specify what form a record must tak…

Clause 7.6.4 seems to indicate that my organization MUST have organizational control over some entity. Is this the correct reading of this clause?

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A2LA reads clause 7.6.4 to be more of a definitio…

The certification scheme our organization operates does not include any guidance on the information that must be made available to the public about certified products. Is our organization allowed to make no information available in this case?

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There is a defined minimum amount of information …

The certification scheme our organization operates uses a certification mark for ongoing certification, but is completely silent on the actual surveillance actions to be taken. How is this to be handled so that we meet the requirements of clauses 7.9.1 an

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While Note 2 under clause 7.9.1 indicates that cr…

Our organization is considering operating a scheme where the scheme owner notifies the clients of changes to the certification requirements themselves, and does not require any re-verification of compliance until the current certification expires. Does cl

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Clause 7.10.1 is required to be implemented by al…

The certification scheme operated by my organization requires that we re-evaluate products on a four month cycle. Does the language in this clause mean that we only have to keep records for 8 months total, in order to meet the “current and previous” cycle

Answer

Clause 8.4.2 of the standard indicates that the C…

How should my organization demonstrate compliance to this clause if we receive an anonymous complaint?

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In many instances, it may not be possible for a c…

What does A2LA consider to be “External documents” that my organization must control under our document control procedures?

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For the purposes of A2LA accreditation, accredite…

I am a Certification Body getting ready to apply for accreditation to ISO/IEC 17065, do I have to perform a complete Management Review before I can become accredited?

Answer

No, A2LA does not require that a complete managem…

I am a Certification Body getting ready to apply for accreditation to ISO/IEC 17065, do I have to perform a complete Internal Audit before I can become accredited?

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No, A2LA does not require that a complete interna…

My internal audit process consists of only completing the A2LA C309 checklist – is this sufficient to demonstrate a complete internal audit?

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Not necessarily - The standard calls for the cert…

My Scope of Accreditation includes multiple product types under a larger scheme. Does my internal audit have to include every product type on my Scope?

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At a minimum, A2LA requires each scheme for which…

What does the standard mean when it says that my internal audit shall “normally” be performed at least once every 12 months?

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A certification body’s initial internal audit sch…

Is my organization required to keep records of training for our internal auditors?

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Clause 8.6.4(a) requires internal auditors to be …

What does the standard mean when it states that my organization must ensure that any actions resulting from our internal audits are taken in a timely and appropriate manner?

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A2LA cannot define what “timely and appropriate” …

What is a “Legally Enforceable Agreement”, and will my assessor be responsible for determining its legality?

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For purposes of this clause, A2LA determines a “l…

Does our Certification Agreement need to list who is responsible (our organization, or the client) for the evaluation of a product when the scheme allows or requires the product to be evaluated before an application for certification can be filed? Or is a

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Historically, verbal agreements are difficult, if…

Is our organization required to keep records of all of the risks to impartiality we have investigated, even those which were determined not to be actual risks?

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The standard requires the certification body to k…

Who determines the adequacy of my organization’s liability coverage arrangements?

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The Certification Body is responsible for determi…

Are expedite fees or volume discounts on certification fees considered discriminatory or undue financial conditions?

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In order for expedite fees or volume discounts (o…

Does my organization’s “Publicly Available Information” need to explicitly address each of the procedures called out in this clause if one or more are not applicable to our certification activities?

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Yes, the Certification Body must address each req…

My organization has invited numerous possible stakeholders to be part of our “Mechanism for Safeguarding Impartiality,” but all of those stakeholders have declined to participate. How can my organization show that we are maintaining the required balanced

Answer

Note 2 to clause 5.2.1 and Note 1 to clause 5.2.4…

What are the “applicable requirements” that Internal Resources must meet in order for my organization to comply with this clause?

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The “applicable requirements” that an internal re…

What are the “applicable requirements” that External Resources must meet in order for my organization to comply with this clause?

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The “applicable requirements” that an external re…

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