U.S. Conformity Assessment System: International Agreements, Arrangements and Schemes
U.S. industry benefits from the cross-border recognition of conformity assessment bodies through a number of international agreements, arrangements, and schemes.
By eliminating the need for duplicative conformity assessment requirements around the globe, these agreements reduce overall cost to business. They have also built confidence among distributors, retailers, consumers and other stakeholders by ensuring that more products manufactured abroad are subject to U.S. standards for quality, health and safety.
Several international agreements, arrangements, and schemes establish networks of internationally recognized, accredited conformity assessment bodies.
They are ultimately evaluated by their national accreditation bodies’ compliance with criteria specified in the
international standard ISO/IEC 17011.
The United States participates in each of the following international conformity assessment approaches:
These conformity assessment approaches help to streamline recognition of conformity assessment results across many different countries, thereby reducing transaction costs, increasing user confidence that requirements are being met and bolstering the efficiency of cross-border trade.
Mutual Recognition Agreements (MRAs)
Mutual recognition agreements are formalized government-to-government agreements regarding the principal bodies responsible for conformity assessment, namely conformity assessment and accreditation bodies. This cooperation is agreed to between governments, is legally binding, and specifies that the signing parties will agree to recognize each other’s processes for testing, certification, inspection, and/or accreditation.
Some well-known mutual recognition agreements (MRAs) include:
Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Telecom Mutual Recognition Arrangement (APEC TEL MRA)
Multilateral Recognition Agreements (MLAs)
Multilateral Recognition Arrangements are a formalized and voluntarily applied cooperation regarding the principal bodies responsible for conformity assessment, namely conformity assessment and accreditation bodies. This cooperation specifies that the signing parties will agree to recognize each other’s processes for testing, certification, inspection, and/or accreditation thus minimizing duplicative conformity assessment.
Some well-known mutual recognition agreements/arrangements (MLAs) include:
International Accreditation Forum Multilateral Recognition Arrangement (IAF MLA)
International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation Mutual Recognition Arrangement (ILAC MLA)
*Note that Multilateral Recognition Agreements are sometimes referred to as MRAs. To avoid confusion with Mutual Recognition Agreements, the term “MLA” is used throughout the StandardsPortal.
International Conformity Assessment Schemes
Another form of international cooperation among Conformity Assessment Bodies is a variety of conformity assessment schemes where signatories to the schemes have agreed to accept the conformity assessment results of each other’s conformity assessment bodies for certain scopes of activity.
Some well-known international conformity assessment schemes include those of the IEC:
IECEE CB Scheme
IECEx Scheme
IECQ Scheme
