FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 2002-11-20

SCC and IAAC Agreement to Facilitate Trade in the Americas

OTTAWA - Standards Council of Canada (SCC) accredited testing and calibration laboratories and Quality Management Systems (QMS) Registration Bodies will now have their accreditation recognized across the Americas, thanks to its signing of a multilateral recognition arrangement (MLA) under the auspices of the Interamerican Accreditation Cooperation (IAAC). Click here to view photos from the event.

The MLA, signed 2002-10-24 in Salvador, Brazil, has the potential to reduce redundant accreditation and the costs of associated assessment activities. It will establish enhanced confidence and credibility between the parties, and will play an important role in the removal of technical barriers to trade for Canadian business. This signifies an increase in the bottom line for clients of SCC accredited registration bodies and laboratories.

Laboratory accreditation is the formal recognition of the competence of a testing or calibration laboratory to perform particular tests. Many clients and regulators require laboratories to be accredited before they will accept their test results.

The SCC's accreditation program for Quality Management Systems verifies and formally recognizes a registration body's competence to conduct ISO 9000 registrations and provides assurance that it is capable of delivering services of a consistent quality.

Under the agreement, participating accreditation bodies will recognize the Standards Council's Program for Accreditation of Laboratories - Canada (PALCAN) and QMS Accreditation Program (QMSAP) as equivalent to their own.

"By signing the Arrangement, the SCC and its PALCAN and QMS accreditation programs will help to ensure that results from one country are accepted in another", said Peter Clark, Executive Director of the Standards Council of Canada. "This will help remove barriers and simplify cross-border trade for Canadian exporters."

The IAAC is a regional organization created to promote collaboration among the accreditation bodies and interested parties within the Americas. It provides a forum for discussion and exchange of experiences in the activities of accreditation as the first stage in the development of a basis for mutual confidence. For more information on the IAAC, visit http://www.iaac-accreditation.org.

The Standards Council of Canada is a Crown Corporation with the mandate to coordinate and promote efficient and effective voluntary standardization. It is the Canadian accreditation body for ISO 9000 registrars and the Canadian member body of ISO. The SCC's Program for Accreditation of Laboratories has accredited over 300 laboratories in a variety of general testing, calibration and specialty areas. For more information on the Standard Council's accreditation programs, including PALCAN and the QMSAP, visit www.scc.ca.

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