Trade agency pushes accreditation initiative

The Department of Trade and Industry is pushing local firms on the world stage through the accreditation community, as it stressed the advantages of accreditation in facilitating trade both in the domestic and international fronts.

The agency issued a statement to mark the “World Accreditation Day” on June 9. It emphasizes the significance of independent evaluation by so-called “conformity assessment bodies” to carry out specific activities with impartiality and competence based on international standards.

According to the DTI, this year’s theme dubbed “Accreditation: Facilitating World Trade,” highlighted the important role accreditation plays in facilitating trade within the country and across the world.

Accreditation also provides advantages to national authorities and regulators, businesses and most especially the consumers.

Through accreditation, “technical competence, reliability, and integrity of conformity assessment bodies are established as it works through a process of transparent and impartial evaluation of organizations,” said Trade Undersecretary Zenaida C. Maglaya.

It is also significant for consumers to be aware of this because accreditation serves as a check-and-balance system for entities, she added.

World Accreditation Day was launched in 2008 by the International Accreditation Forum (IAF) and International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC).

ILAC is an international cooperation of laboratory and inspection accreditation bodies, while the IAF is the world association of “conformity assessment bodies” that certifies organizations in the areas of management systems, products, services and personnel. The bodies were formed to help remove technical barriers to trade.

The DTI’s Philippine Accreditation Office is the Philippines’ national accreditation body. It is an internationally recognized Multilateral Agreement and Mutual Recognition Arrangement signatory to the Pacific Accreditation Cooperation/International Accreditation Forum and the Asia-Pacific Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation/International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation.