Laboratory and inspection body accreditation authorities throughout the world have established international and regional groupings of cooperation.
The objectives of the cooperation are to :
- Develop and harmonise laboratory and inspection accreditation practices
- Promote these accreditation to industry, governments, regulators and consumers
- Foster and promote competent laboratories and inspection bodies
- Gain universal acceptance of accredited certificates and reports
- Facilitate mutual recognition of accredited test, measurement and inspection results
- Exchange technical knowledge among members.
These objectives are consistent with the World Trade Organisation's Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT Agreement). This agreement encourages WTO members to recognise each other's conformity assessment results, provided they are confident the procedures are equivalent. In most economies, Governments recognise and encourage the use of accredited reports to facilitate trade and for ensuring the safety of goods and services being imported.
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