In respect to conformity assessment, in accordance with the international standard ISO/IEC 17000:2004, accreditation is confirmation of conformity assessment body by a third party, serving as official recognition of its competence in performing specific tasks of conformity assessment. Accreditation bodies are established to ensure that conformity assessment bodies are supervised by a relevant authority. Internationally recognized accreditation bodies, which have confirmed their competence upon results of mutual comparative assessment, sign international agreements to facilitate the cross-border exchange of goods and services, thereby creating a global infrastructure to ensure health and safety.
Accreditation is an independent assessment of integrity, impartiality, and competence of conformity assessment bodies in performing their specific tasks of assessment and confirmation of the conformity to the established standards.
In Russia, the unified national accreditation system started to form in 2011. Relations in this area are being regulated by the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation RusAccreditation created in accordance with the decree of the President of the Russian Federation provides accreditation services, that is, determines whether an organization is competent to assess the quality and safety of products, and also supervises the compliance with legislation in this area.
Relations arising between participants of the national accreditation system are regulated by the Federal Law No. 412-FZ “On Accreditation in the National Accreditation System” in 2013. To be accredited in a specific area, an interested organization must meet the accreditation criteria, that is, comply with the requirements for its equipment, personnel, management system, internal record keeping, and archiving. Accredited CABs must maintain and regularly confirm their competence. The assessment of their Compliance with the accreditation criteria is performed by experts who are not public officials, who are attested by RusAccreditation and work under its supervision.
While the chain gets increasingly complex, the Institute of accreditation ensures that certification and inspection bodies are independent, competent and perform their obligations.