IOAS has confirmed its commitment to the Pacific Accreditation Cooperation (PAC) and become a signatory of the PAC MLA on product certification on 15 June 2016.
The aim of the IOAS has always been to support the development of a more sustainable and fairer world for farmers and producers, so that there are markets for their products and that consumers can trust the label on the products they buy. Becoming a signatory of the PAC MLA for product certification facilitates this through Multilateral Recognition Agreements.
Multilateral Recognition Agreements recognise the equivalence of members’ accreditations. Mutual recognition of product certification reduces duplicative conformity assessment costs for importers and exporters on a global scale.
PAC is an association of Accreditation Bodies and other interested parties that are established and operate in the member economies of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC). The PAC operates within the framework of the International Accreditation Forum (IAF) and in cooperation with other regional groups of accreditation bodies around the world.
PAC’s objectives are to facilitate trade and commerce among APEC economies, within the system of global recognition of programs for conformity assessment. The PAC promotes the international acceptance of accreditations granted by its accreditation body members, based on the equivalence of their accreditation programmes.
Bodies accredited by the MLA signatories are recognized as operating equivalent ISO/IEC 17065 product certification programs in accordance with international requirements. The marketplace can have the same confidence for certification bodies accredited by one signatory as in those accredited by other signatories.
