International Accreditation Forum (IAF)

It is a global association of national accreditation bodies (NAB) that administers international agreements interested in conformity assessment in the fields of management systems, products, services, personnel and other similar conformity assessment programs.

The IAF has two objectives:

1. Ensure that the members of its accreditation body accredit only those bodies that are competent to perform their work and are not involved in conflicts of interest.
2. Establish mutual recognition agreements between members of your accreditation body, known as Multilateral Recognition Agreements (MLAs), which reduce risk for companies and their clients by ensuring that an accredited certificate can be relied upon anywhere in the world.

There are currently four main areas of application for the IAF MLA:

• Certification of management systems using ISO/IEC 17021-1;
• Product certification using ISO/IEC 17065;
• Certification of individuals using ISO/IEC 17024;
• Validation using ISO 14065.

From 2019 July. IAF MLA members are 84 members of the national accreditation body and 5 recognized regional accreditation groups:

• Arab Accreditation Cooperation (ARAC);
• European Accreditation Cooperation (EA);
• American Association for Accreditation (IAAC);
• Asia Pacific Accreditation Cooperation (APAC);
• African Accreditation Cooperation (AFRAC).

The National Accreditation Bureau of the Republic of Lithuania is a full member of the International Accreditation Forum (IAF).