June 9, 2023 – The North American Accreditation Forum (NAAF) has been established by accreditation bodies in North America to provide a platform for accreditation bodies, industry associations and companies to promote the exchange of knowledge, ideas, and views on conformity assessment and accreditation in support of the principles of the WTO and USMCA. As a nonprofit organization, the mission of NAAF is to “…promote confidence in accreditation in support of global free and fair trade.”
The founding members of NAAF include Accreditation Canada Diagnostics, AIHA Laboratory Accreditation Programs, American Association for Laboratory Accreditation (A2LA), ANSI National Accreditation Board (ANAB), Canadian Association for Laboratory Accreditation (CALA), entidad mexicana de acreditación (ema), International Accreditation Service (IAS), National Voluntary Laboratory Accreditation Program (NVLAP), Perry Johnson Laboratory Accreditation (PJLA), Standards Council of Canada (SCC), and United Accreditation Foundation (UAF). The accreditation body members of NAAF provide accreditation for testing laboratories, calibration laboratories, inspection agencies and certification bodies, among others.
The founding members of NAAF are signatories to international arrangements such as the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) and/or International Accreditation Forum (IAF), as well as signatories to the Asia Pacific Accreditation Cooperation (APAC) and/or the IAAC (Inter-American Accreditation Cooperation) – organizations whose purpose is to reduce technical barriers between countries through mutual recognition of accreditation bodies results based on peer reviews conducted by other signatory members. In addition to supporting the reduction of barriers and mutual recognition of accreditation bodies, NAAF will promote open and competitive conformity assessment activities worldwide among accreditation bodies, providing customers and conformity assessment bodies with choice and access to competent accreditation services facilitating domestic and international trade. NAAF will work to facilitate global fair trade as described in the WTO (World Trade Organization) and United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) principles. Today, June 9, 2023, is World Accreditation Day and the theme “Accreditation: Supporting the Future of Global Trade” illustrates how standards, regulations, metrology and accredited conformity assessment create the quality infrastructure needed for global trade as supported by NAAF’s mission and objectives.
Membership in NAAF is open to accreditation bodies and non-accreditation body members, inside and outside North America, that support the mission and scope of NAAF.
For more information about NAAF, visit www.na-af.org
For more information about World Accreditation Day, visit www.na-af.org/2023-world-accreditation-day
Source: https://www.na-af.org/news
