international accreditation service
AVU Registrations is accredited by the International Accreditation Service (IAS), a leading global accreditation body that has been providing accreditation services since 1975. IAS is a signatory to four primary international organizations that form a unified system for evaluating competent accreditation bodies worldwide.
As one of the leading accreditation bodies in the United States, IAS is a signatory to the three primary international organizations that form a unified system for evaluating and recognizing competent accreditation bodies worldwide. These organizations are identified as “co-operations” because they have agreed to co-operate with one another by adhering to a common set of accreditation criteria and to undergo periodic onsite evaluation to determine ongoing compliance with ISO/IEC Standard 17011, General Requirements for accreditation bodies accrediting conformity assessment bodies (CABs). Being a “signatory” means that an accreditation body has been evaluated onsite at its offices, a sampling of the assessments of its accredited entities have been witnessed by peer experts, and that it has been found to comply with international requirements.
Accreditation
Accreditation is the independent evaluation of conformity assessment bodies against recognized standards to ensure their impartiality and competence. Through the application of national and international standards, government, procurers and consumers can have confidence in the calibration and test results, inspection reports and certifications provided.
Accreditation bodies are established in many countries with the primary purpose of ensuring that conformity assessment bodies are subject to oversight by an authoritative body.
Accreditation bodies, which have been evaluated by peers as competent, sign arrangements that enhance the acceptance of products and services across national borders, thereby creating a framework to support international trade through the removal of technical barriers.
These arrangements are managed by the International Accreditation Forum (IAF), in the fields of management systems, products, services, personnel and other similar programs of conformity assessment, and the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC), in the field of laboratory and inspection accreditation.
Certification
Certification is a “third-party attestation related to products, processes, systems or persons,” as defined by ISO/IEC 17000 Conformity Assessment—Vocabulary and General Principles.
Certification is most often associated with ISO 9001 and the environmental management systems standard ISO 14001. However, certification programs exist for a range of management systems standards, including the ISO/IEC 27000 program for information security management and the ISO 22000 program for food safety management.
Product certification is the process of verifying that a product, including services and processes, meet requirements specified in contracts, regulations, or specifications.
In most countries, accreditation is voluntary; however, many certification bodies choose to seek accreditation in order to demonstrate third-party confirmation of their competence. Certifications are frequently used in both private and public sectors to increase confidence in the products and services provided by organizations, between partners in business-to-business relations, in the selection of suppliers in supply chains and in the right to tender for procurement contracts.
about ias
The International Accreditation Service (IAS) provides objective evidence that an organization operates at the highest level of ethical, legal and technical standards.
IAS is a nonprofit, public-benefit corporation that has been providing accreditation services since 1975. IAS accredits a wide range of companies and organizations including governmental entities, commercial businesses, and professional associations. IAS accreditation programs are based on recognized national and international standards that ensure domestic and/or global acceptance of its accreditations. IAS receives funding revenue through the provision of accreditation services, and the renewal of these services, as well as training offerings. These revenues are further used to participate and engage in developing industry based accreditation programs, domestic and international schemes including participation in standards development. IAS also maintains signatory status in a number of global multilateral recognition arrangements under Asia Pacific Accreditation Cooperation (APAC), International Accreditation Forum (IAF) and International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC). IAS is a member of the ICC Family of Solutions.
The IAS Board of Directors are well-recognized experts in their respective fields, all of whom have a passion for public service and quality, serving innumerable hours to accomplish their assignments.earn Moe
3060 Saturn Street, Suite 100
Brea, California 92821
United States
Phone: +1 (562) 364-8201
international credentials
As one of the leading accreditation bodies in the United States, IAS is a signatory to the three primary international organizations that form a unified system for evaluating and recognizing competent accreditation bodies worldwide. These organizations are identified as “cooperations” because they have agreed to cooperate with one another by adhering to a common set of accreditation criteria and to undergo periodic onsite evaluation to determine ongoing compliance with ISO/IEC Standard 17011, General Requirements for accreditation bodies accrediting conformity assessment bodies (CABs). Being a “signatory” means that an accreditation body has been evaluated onsite at its offices, a sampling of the assessments of its accredited entities have been witnessed by peer experts, and that it has been found to comply with international requirements.
These organizations agree to recognize the equivalence of accreditations granted by other signatory member accreditation bodies through a series of Mutual (or Multilateral) Recognition Arrangements (MRAs/MLAs). Once an accreditation body becomes a signatory it is obligated to recognize the certificates or reports issued by conformity assessment bodies accredited by all other signatories within a specified scope. The following organizations below make up the unified system for recognition of competent accreditation bodies (ABs).
ias impartiality policy
The International Accreditation Service (IAS) provides global, reliable, objective and accessible accreditation services complying to the highest level of ethical, legal and technical standards. IAS is committed to safeguarding impartiality and management of any conflict of interest arising from its accreditation activities. IAS, by ensuring compliance to the IAS management system, does not allow commercial, financial or other pressures to compromise its impartiality, confidentiality or independence.
a subsidiary of the international code council (icc)
IAS is a subsidiary of the International Code Council (ICC), a nonprofit professional association and leader in the building construction industry worldwide with over 64,000 members. ICC is dedicated to developing the International Codes and standards used in the design, build and compliance process to construct safe, sustainable, affordable and resilient structures. Most U.S. communities and many global markets choose the International Codes, that have provided the highest level of safety in the world for more than 90 years. Nearly 2 billion people are impacted by ICC’s building safety codes.