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About us – Introduction

The Inter-American Accreditation Cooperation is a regional association of accreditation bodies and other organizations interested in conformity assessment in the Americas.

IAAC’s mission is to promote cooperation between accreditation bodies and interested parties in the Americas, focused on the development of conformity assessment structures to achieve the improvement of products, processes and services.

IAAC was created in 1996 in Montevideo, Uruguay, and was legally established in Mexico in 2001 as a civil association under Mexican law.

IAAC is a non-profit organization that operates based on the cooperation of its members and stakeholders. IAAC obtains resources from membership dues and voluntary contributions from its members. The basic documents of IAAC are the Memorandum of Understanding and the Bylaws.

IAAC'S MAIN OBJECTIVES AND GOALS ARE:

Maintain, improve and extend the scope of IAAC's MLA and maintain international recognition as a Regional Cooperation by IAF and ILAC
Strengthen relationships at international and regional level
Increase the technical competence of members
Achieve and maintain economic/financial sustainability
Improve IAAC's efficiency to strengthen its leadership

IAAC IS WORKING ON THE FOLLOWING ACTIVITIES:

To facilitate commercial exchange between nations or blocks of nations of the Americas through a system of accredited conformity assessment bodies;
To develop, maintain, improve and extend the scope of the IAAC Multilateral Recognition Agreements;
To maintain the status as a Regional Cooperation recognized by the International Accreditation Forum (IAF) and International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC), or by the international organization(s) that may replace them;
Promote the acceptance of accreditations granted by member accreditation bodies, based on the equivalence of the operation of their accreditation systems and their respective schemes, within the international accreditation framework, and in cooperation with the other regional groups of accreditation bodies, as well as promote the international acceptance of certificates and results issued by duly accredited conformity assessment organizations;
Promote the transfer of knowledge and technical information, exchange of information, visits by regional experts, and similar activities to assist new, developing and established accreditation schemes;
Facilitate collaboration, cooperation and mutual assistance among members;
Assist current and potential IAAC members in matters related to accreditation of conformity assessment bodies;
Harmonize the criteria for operation of member accreditation bodies based on relevant international ISO/IEC standards and guidelines and IAF and ILAC documents;
Facilitate the exchange of information between IAAC member accreditation bodies and IAF and ILAC members;
Promote cooperation in the training of peer assessors and accreditation body personnel;
Facilitate the adoption and implementation of standards, guidelines and application documents developed by relevant international bodies;
Encourage and support the development of accreditation bodies in the countries of the Americas;
Work together with other regional bodies in the Americas such as the Pan American Standards Commission (COPANT), the Inter-American Metrology System (SIM), and regional accreditation cooperations, as well as other relevant organizations to promote regional quality infrastructure; and
Seek financial and institutional support from regional and international organizations to support IAAC and its members in the areas of accreditation and conformity assessment.

IAAC Organizational Chart

IAAC’s organizational structure ensures efficient decision-making and active collaboration among its committees and working groups. Each body plays a key role in fulfilling the mission of fostering regional cooperation in accreditation and quality.

INTER-INSTITUTIONAL COOPERATION

IAAC works in close cooperation with the following organizations:

Quality Infrastructure Council of the Americas

PanAmerican Technical Standards Commission

International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation

South African Development Committee for Accreditation

IAAC contributes to the welfare of the people and the environment of the Americas by promoting the recognition of reliable and technically competent conformity assessment bodies. IAAC contributes to global and regional efforts for the liberalization and facilitation of free trade and investment by reducing and eliminating technical barriers to trade in the area of conformity assessment. Stakeholder members enjoy numerous benefits, so we suggest that conformity assessment bodies consider membership in IAAC as an investment to improve their services.